Lauderdale’s Success Has Boosted Saddleback

Jon Lauderdale had some lofty goals coming into his sophomore baseball season at Saddleback College.

He hoped to cut his strikeouts (42) by half and double the number of runs he drove in last season, when he had 24.

Thanks to a hitting tip from the Gaucho coaching staff, Lauderdale was able to do that and more.

Lauderdale, who has played third base, the outfield and is currently the designated hitter, helped Saddleback finish second in the Orange Empire Conference.

He is hitting .355 with 11 home runs and a conference-best 56 RBIs for Saddleback (26-13) and was selected as the conference’s co-most valuable player with Rancho Santiago’s Tony Zuniga.

Saddleback hosts Los Angeles Pierce (28-12) in a best-of-three series starting at 2 p.m. today in the Southern California playoffs.

The major reason for Lauderdale’s improvement at the plate was his learning to keep his weight back and be more patient. This makes it harder for him to be fooled by off-speed pitches; he has struck out only 20 times.

“I can’t emphasize that enough,” he said of his adjustment. “It made all the difference. I hit four or five home runs on breaking pitches this season and last year I just seemed to swing through them.”

Another reason Lauderdale has improved this season is he started it a lot healthier. A few weeks before the start of last season, Lauderdale, who also played football and wrestled at Tustin High, played football in the mud with some friends.

While making a tackle, he separated his right (throwing) shoulder. As a result, it hurt him to swing the bat and he struggled.

“Coach [Jack Hodges] wasn’t too happy,” Lauderdale said. “I don’t think I’ll ever play football again unless it’s a game of touch.”

About halfway through the season his shoulder healed, and Lauderdale started to perform much better. He hit .268 (.321 in conference) with five home runs.

Lauderdale had another injury this season--a badly sprained ankle--but refused to stop playing.

“He’s just that tough a kid,” Hodges said.

While he wouldn’t leave the lineup, he did have to come out of the outfield, moving to designated hitter.

About that time, Saddleback started to play well and went on to win 16 of its last 22 games. Lauderdale would prefer to be in the field, but he has adjusted.

“If you’re not doing well hitting, then you’re not helping the team,” Lauderdale said. “I feel like I have to [hit] well to help.”

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Baseball: Chad Wanders (5-1), a sophomore right-hander, is expected to start today for Saddleback.

Tavares Comeaux, Saddleback’s shortstop, is hitting .402 with 12 doubles, seven homers and 25 RBIs, and teammate Paul Day, a freshman outfielder, is batting .384 with eight home runs and 45 RBIs.

Cypress (33-11), the conference champion, is at home against San Bernardino Valley (24-17), and Rancho Santiago (31-11) hosts Cuesta (32-12) also at 2 p.m. today.

Cypress is expected to start sophomore right-hander Michael Cosgrove (8-1, 3.09 earned-run average), who needs one more victory to set the school career mark. He currently has 17.

Rancho Santiago led the conference with 63 home runs, including 13 by Derek Baker, who hasn’t hit one since April 11.

Mike Brambilla had 10 and Tony Zuniga and Erik Sobek had eight.

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Softball: The top two players in the Orange Empire Conference will be competing in the four-team regional at Cypress today.

Christa Saindon, a sophomore shortstop, was the conference’s player of the year. She hit .403 with six doubles, nine triples, nine home runs and 31 RBIs. The Chargers (44-13) play Imperial Valley (16-20) at noon.

The other first-round game at Cypress matches Rancho Santiago (33-16) and Southwestern (20-12) at 2 p.m. The winners meet at 4 p.m.

Rancho Santiago is led by freshman Sheryl Anderson, the conference’s pitcher of the year. She is 30-8 and has a 0.75 ERA in 252 2/3 innings.