Posted: Mar 14, 2013
Gauchos Come From Behind for 3-1 win at Riverside
Saddleback
(12-6, 3-4)
3
Riverside
(14-7, 4-3)
1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Saddleback | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 2 |
|
Riverside | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
RIVERSIDE – Watching a mid-game lead evaporate, the host Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers men's baseball team couldn't recover as the visiting Saddleback College Gauchos came back to post a
3-1 Orange Empire Conference (OEC) win Thursday afternoon at the Evans Sports Complex.
The game was scoreless through 4-1/2 innings until Saddleback (12-6, 3-4 OEC) yielded Riverside City (14-7, 4-3 OEC) an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth for a 1-0 RCC lead. The Gauchos responded with two runs in the sixth and the proverbial insurance run in the seventh.
For probably the first time since the OEC was reborn for the 1987 season, parity (or something really close to it) has arrived. With the first round pretty much done, only two games separate first place (Fullerton, at 4-2) from last place (Irvine Valley, at 2-4).
In the fifth, Riverside freshman SS Nick King (Palm Springs / Palm Springs HS) drilled a groundball off the back-handed glove of Saddleback third-baseman Casey Bennett which ricocheted over to shortstop Josh Fuentes who overthrew toward first base as King was credited with an infield hit and advanced to second on the overthrow. RCC sophomore 1B Daniel Arellano (Moreno Valley – Canyon Springs HS) then parachuted a double about ten feet inside the left-field line as King raced home with the first run of the game.
In the sixth, Saddleback strung together two runs when sophomore 2B Jeff Butler was hit by a pitch and came around to score on a booming double to left field by sophomore SS Josh Fuentes. Fuentes went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly out to center field off the bat of sophomore 1B Noah Graham. In the seventh, Bennett doubled and scored on a RBI double by freshman CF Cody Schmitz.
In the eighth, Riverside opened with two outs and then loaded the bases on a double, a walk and a hit batter, before a groundout ended the threat.
Saddleback starting sophomore LHP Evan Manarino went the first 7-2/3 innings before yielding to freshman RHP closer Anthony Shew. Manarino only the one run (unearned) on six hits and two walks with five strikeouts on 115 pitches (77 strikes) to improve to 6-1. Shew notched his second save.
Sophomore RHP Joseph Molina (Redlands / Redlands East Valley HS), in relief of RCC starting RHP Cortland Cox, allowed all three runs (all earned) in 2-1/3 innings and saw his record level to 1-1.
Saddleback lead-off batter, freshman LF Slate Miller, went three for five with a double to lead the Gauchos. Of the Gauchos' nine hits, seven were doubles. Arellano was one of three Tigers to get two hits in the game.
Both teams continue OEC play on Saturday, March 16, at 12 p.m. RCC will host the Irvine valley College Lasers, while Saddleback College Gauchos will visit the Cypress College Chargers.