SANTA ANA - While racking up double-digits in hits during their recent two-game losing streak, the Dons finally got hits when they needed them and turned them into a 10-6 win over Saddleback College. The win gives the Dons (19-9, 6-8) the season series over the Gauchos (19-10, 7-7) after getting a win in the first game of the series as well.
More importantly than that, the win helps move the Dons back into the mix in the Orange Empire Conference as they now sit in a tie for fourth place with Cypress College while sitting just one game out of third place behind Saddleback and Riverside. The Dons and the Gauchos wrap up their season series on Thursday while Riverside travels to Golden West College.
The Dons jumped out to an early 3-0 lead today over the Gauchos with JB Bryant doubling in Joshua Vargas before Cody Bergeson hit a two-run double that scored Bryant and Tyler Madrid.
Saddleback cut into the Dons lead with a solo home run by Brandon Cody in the second before SAC went back up by three at 4-1 on Vargas' sacrifice fly in the second that scored Cody Bistline.
The Gauchos put up a three-run inning of their own in the fourth inning to tie the game at 4-4. Cody Schmitz drew a bases-loaded walk that scored Kyle Ferret before Slate Miller's sacrifice fly scored Brett Thompson. The final run came in on another sacrifice fly, this time by Josh Fuentes, scoring Casey Bennett.
But the Dons would break that tie in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of runs. Vargas doubled in Walker before scoring on a RBI-single by Daniel Martinez. The Dons extended their lead to 8-4 in the fifth with Walker singling in Derek Meddings before Bryant singled in Walker.
The Gauchos would cut into the Dons lead again with a pair of runs in the sixth inning. Fuentes doubled in Miller and Jeffrey Butler to make the game 8-6.
Tyler Madrid would provide the insurance runs for the Dons in the seventh inning when he singled in Walker and Vargas to make the final score 10-6.
Ryan Chapman (1-0) picked up the win for the Dons as he pitched 2.2 innings of relief. Chapman allowed two runs on two hits while striking out four batters. James Roll (1) earned the save for the Dons after pitching the final 2.2 innings without allowing a hit. Seth Pederson (2-4) took the loss for Saddleback after allowing six runs on nine hits over 3.1 innings of work.
