Bobcats scratch back for OEC title

The Saddleback baseball team completed the unthinkable on Friday with a 4-1 victory over Riverside City College to win the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) championship.  The Bobcats will now wait for a playoff announcement on Sunday.

Saddleback trailed Riverside City by four games in the standings just 13 days ago and the feeling amongst the fans was that the Bobcats were playing for second place.  Fast-forward to Friday, and the fans have a shiny new trophy to talk about after winning 2-of-3 games from RCC to claim its second straight OEC title. 

Saddleback took a 1-0 lead in the opening inning when a pair of singles and a defensive error from the Tigers loaded the bases for J.C. Allen, who delivered a sacrifice fly for the lead.

Riverside tied the game in the top of the fourth inning when Dominic Dominguez singled home Adrian Arechiga to even the score.  The Bobcats quickly responded in the bottom half of the inning when a double from Jason Hefft and single from Allen put runners on the corners with no out.  Zachary Schwartzberg hit into a double play, but the go-ahead run crossed the plate for a 2-1 advantage.

As it turned out, that's all Saddleback would need as the pitching staff was on the top of their game.  Trevor Eby started and pitched through the sixth inning in improving to 5-1 on the season.  Eby surrendered just three hits while striking out four and walking only one.  He gave way to a trio of pitchers who stifled the Tiger attack.  Dylan Blakey got a pair of outs before Tyler Byrns came in for 1.1 innings of work.  Blake Butcher then came in to close the door on the Tigers in picking up his fifth save of the season.

Saddleback added a pair of insurance runs, scoring solo runs in the sixth and eighth innings.  Jack Collins had a big hit to score Isaiah Morales for a 3-1 lead in the bottom half of the sixth.  Cole Koniarsky singled home Allen with the final run of the game in the bottom half of the eighth.

The win puts Saddleback at 29-10 overall and 15-6 in Orange Empire Conference play.  It was the second straight Orange Empire Conference title for Saddleback, which was the first time winning back-to-back titles since winning four straight conference titles from 1981-84.

Saddleback will enter the playoffs as one of the top seeds in Southern California.  The seeding committee is expected to meet on Sunday, with an announcement in the afternoon.