Saddleback Tallies Trio of Threes & Turns Triple Play; Tops Riverside, 9-4, Thursday

RIVERSIDE -- The visiting Saddleback College (SC) Gauchos scored a trio of runs in a trio of innings and turned a triple play en route to a 9-4 Orange Empire Conference (OEC) victory over the host Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers baseball team Thursday (Apr. 9) afternoon at the Evans Sports Complex.

Saddleback (20-10 overall, 7-8 OEC) scored three times in the top of the first and second innings for a 6-0 lead before Riverside closed to within 6-4 after seven innings. A three-run home run in the top of the ninth gave the Gauchos the final 9-4 margin.

Riverside (18-12 overall, 6-9 OEC) scored single runs in the second, fourth, sixth and seventh innings to close to within 6-4. In the second, sophomore 3B Anthony Ayala (Fontana / Fontana HS) tripled and scored on a groundout to get RCC on the board at 6-1. In the fourth, sophomore RF David Schuknecht (Palm Desert HS), socked his sixth home run of the season to get the Tigers to within 6-2.

In the sixth, freshman pinch hitter Michael Darr (Corona / Santiago HS) singled sharply through the left side to drive in a run aand make it 6-3 in favor of Saddleback. In the eighth, freshman SS Brody Weis (Denver, CO / Regis Jesuit HS) singled home a run to make it 6-4 with runners at first and second with no outs before freshman 1B Israel Fuentes (Chino Hills HS) hit a sharp ground ball to third that was turned into a triple play to end the threat and the inning.

Fuentes, Weiss and sophomore DH Garrett Dean (Alta Loma / Alta Loma HS) each had two hits to pace the Tigers.

Freshman SS Colby Schultz (San Juan Capistrano), who homered in Tuesday's 8-5 win over RCC, went three for five, and sophomore 3B Dan James (Trabuco Canyon), also went three for five, including the back-breaking three-run round tripper in the ninth for the Gauchos.

Saddleback freshman starting RHP Domnique Key (San Diego) went the first five innings plus to improve to 6-1. Key scattered seven hits, allowed three runs (all earned), walked two and struck out two on 89 pitches (55 strikes). Sophomore reliever Brett Barker (Laguna NIguel), who started as the DH, pitched the final three frames and allowed one earned run on four hits and -- aided by the triple play -- earned his second save.

RCC sophomore starting RHP Angel Delgado (Beaumont / Beaumont HS) went 6-1/3 ininngs and allowed eight hits, six runs (three earned), walked three and struck out two as his record fell to 2-3.

Both teams continue OEC action on Saturday, Apr. 11, at 12 p.m. when Saddleback hosts the Fullerton College Hornets and RCC visits the Cypress College Chargers.

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