Bobcats bounce back against Cypress

The Saddleback baseball team evened the series against Cypress College with an 11-3 win on Thursday at Doug Fritz Field.  With the win the Bobcats moved back into a tie for second place.

Saddleback was trying to bounce back from a disappointing loss on Tuesday.  The Bobcats fell behind 1-0 in the first inning after committing a defensive miscue and allowing an unearned run. 

Saddleback bounced back with three runs in the bottom half of the third inning to grab a 3-1 lead.  The Bobcats had three hits in the inning and took advantage of a Cypress error in the field.  Saddleback took the lead when Michael Davinni singled home Makani Tanaka for a 2-1 advantage.  The Bobcats would add another when Isaiah Morales singled home Jacob Naso. 

Cypress closed the gap to 3-2 in the top half of the fourth inning before Saddleback added three more runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning.  The Bobcats started with three straight hits as Davinni, Morales and Jason Hefft quickly loaded the bases.  After a pair of runs on a fielder's choice and wild pitch, Cade McGuire singled home Hefft for a 6-2 lead.

Saddleback tacked on five more runs in the bottom half of the eighth inning.  The big blow was a towering home run to left field from Davinni to give the Bobcats an 8-3 advantage.  It was Davinni's third hit of the game and fifth home run of the season.

Saddleback went with a collection of pitchers.  Will Girardi started and gave way to Tyler Byrns in the fourth inning.  Byrns (2-0) got the final out of the fourth inning to get the Bobcats out of a jam and pitched through the sixth inning to pick up his second win of the season.  Saddleback then turned the ball over to C.J. Zwahlen, Blake Butcher and Christian Finnigan, who closed out the game.

Saddleback improved to 23-9 overall and 9-5 in Orange Empire Conference play with the win.  The Bobcats and Cypress will close out the three-game series at Cypress on Saturday.  The first pitch is scheduled for 12:00 PM.