That’s a big no-no

The Saddleback baseball team pulled off a rare feat on Tuesday when the pitching staff combined for a no-hitter in a win over Irvine Valley College.  The Bobcats beat the Lasers 6-0 in the first no-hitter for the program since 2023. 

The story of the day was Jack Gallison, who made his first start of the season after pitching just three innings all season coming into the game.  Gallison had a perfect game going through five innings before the Bobcats went to the bullpen.  The freshman righty from Dana Hills High School silenced the Lasers with six strikeouts while the offense was building up a lead.

Saddleback then went to Jack Wade, who pitched two innings of no-hit ball to get the Bobcats through the seventh inning.  Wade hit a batter and walked another but kept the no-hit bid intact with three strikeouts in two innings of work.

Saddleback then brought in Andrew Padova in the eighth inning and Padova hit a batter but kept the Lasers out of the hit column in the inning.  He then started the ninth inning with a lazy fly-out to left field before hitting a batter to put a runner on base.  Padova then got Sam Tucci to hit into a double-play to end the game, thus giving the Bobcats their first no-hitter in just over two years.

Saddleback scored the opening run of the game in the top half of the third inning when Jacob Beauchaine singled home Dmitri Susidko in what would end up being the game-winning hit. 

Saddleback put three more runs on the board in the fifth inning to take a 4-0 lead.  Rodrigo Barajas hit his sixth home run of the season with Hayden Carlson on base for a 3-0 advantage.  The Bobcats tacked on another run when James Derflinger tripled home Andreas Nilsen for a 4-0 lead.

Saddleback added two insurance runs in the top half of the ninth inning to take a 6-0 lead.  It was more than enough runs to put the game away but kept the fans waiting in anticipation of a potential combined no-hitter. 

Saddleback's no-hitter was the first since Dylan Singh, Nathan Helman, Dylan Blakey and Tommy di Landri no-hit Grossmont College on February 1, 2023.  The lone no-hitter thrown by any one individual in program history was thrown by Dan Goldberg in 2006. 

Saddleback is now 16-10 overall and 2-5 in Orange Empire Conference play following the win.  The Bobcats and Lasers will resume the series with game two on Thursday at Saddleback.  The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM.