Barajas silences the Pirates

The Saddleback baseball team got back to winning ways on Friday with a 7-1 victory at Ventura College.  Freshman Jace Barajas silenced the Pirate bats in picking up the win.

Saddleback picked up its second win of the week on Friday at Ventura in what was a solid collective effort.  The Bobcats never trailed in the game, opening up a big lead and never looking back.

Saddleback scored four times in the top half of the second inning to set the tempo.  The Bobcats had four hits in the inning and also capitalized on a defensive miscue.  Jacob Beauchaine led off the inning with a double and advanced to third base on a single from James Derflinger.  Michael Walshe then had a sacrifice fly to bring home Beauchaine with the opening run of the game.  Two batters later, Jake Tyler drove home Derflinger on a single and the Bobcats were off and running.  Hayden Carlson then tripled home Tyler with the third run of the inning.  Ventura then helped out Saddleback with an error by the pitcher, allowing Carlson to trot home from third base.

Meanwhile, Barajas was in total control on the mound.  He pitched through the sixth inning before leaving with a 7-0 lead.  Barajas struck out six Pirates in improving to 4-0 for the season.  In the process, he lowered his ERA to 0.57 this season in 31.1 innings of work. 

Saddleback increased the lead to 6-0 in the top half of the fourth inning, again using a defensive error and a few hits to put the game out of reach.  Walshe led off the inning with a single before Andreas Nilsen reached base on an error from the pitcher.  Carlson drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly to score Walshe before Dmitri Susidko brought home Nilsen with a single for a 6-0 lead.  The Bobcats would add another insurance run in the sixth inning when Carlson had his second straight sacrifice fly to score Nilsen.

Saddleback is now 15-10 overall heading back into Orange Empire Conference play next week.  The Bobcats have a three-game series with inter-district rival Irvine Valley College, starting on Tuesday at IVC.  The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM.