17th straight win leads to regional finals
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Saddleback | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 3 |
|
Desert | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
The Saddleback baseball team won its 17th straight game on Saturday with a 5-1 victory over College of the Desert in the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Super Regionals at Doug Fritz Field. With the win the Bobcats advanced to the CCCAA Regional Finals next week.
Saddleback jumped out early, scoring two runs in the top half of the first inning. It turned out to be all that they would need as the Bobcats cruised to a 5-1 win.
Ryan Farmer started on the mound and knew what to do with the lead. He surrendered just one unearned run over six innings of work before turning the ball over to one of the more dominant bullpens in the state. Ryan Cullinane, Joshua Meekins and Arthur Liu finished off the Roadrunners over the final three innings, surrendering no hits while putting College of the Desert away quietly. Saddleback is now 32-0 this season when leading after the completion of the seventh inning.
Saddleback scored twice in the opening inning when Cole Koniarsky blasted his team-leading seventh home run of the season over the left field fence. Koniarsky now has a team-high 63 RBI on the season, which ties him for eighth all-time in the single season in program history.
Saddleback tacked on three more runs in the top half of the fourth inning when four of the first five hitters in the lineup had hits. The big blow was a double down the left field line from Jacob Naso to score Zachary Schwartzberg for a 4-0 lead. The Bobcats would add another on a groundout from Jordan Dissin to score Brent Riddle for a 5-0 advantage.
Saddleback advanced to the CCCAA Regional Finals for the first time since 2018. The last time Saddleback was in the regional finals it lost to Mt. San Antonio College, two games to one.
Saddleback will play the winner of Santa Ana College and Palomar College, who were tied at one game apiece after Santa Ana defeated Palomar on Saturday. Santa Ana will host Palomar on Sunday in a third and deciding game at 12:00 PM.
Another team advancing to the regional finals was Glendale College, who swept past El Camino College on Saturday. The Vaqueros will face the winner of Cypress College and Riverside City College, who will play a third game on Sunday.
Saddleback's 17th straight win tied a program record originally set back in 1997 and again equaled in 2002. The Bobcats last lost a game on March 29 at Santa Ana (5-4).