Lauderdale Leads Saddleback to Victory

Three Saddleback players set individual records Saturday, but it was the accomplishment of the team that mattered most.

Jon Lauderdale drove in five runs and pitcher Ryan Tack dominated as Saddleback beat host Cypress, 9-2, in a Southern California baseball playoff game.

Saddleback (30-13) needs one more victory to advance to the state tournament. The Gauchos play Cypress at 11 a.m. Cypress eliminated Mt. San Antonio, 6-1, Saturday afternoon.

“We’ve worked hard all year to put ourselves in this position,” Saddleback Coach Jack Hodges said. “We beat a great club today.”

Tack (3-3) and Cypress’ Ara Petrosian (8-4) were matched in an intense battle the first five innings.

But with one out in the fifth, Saddleback’s Ryan Ruiz singled and Corrie Willkie followed with a bunt single.

Lauderdale then slammed the first pitch, a hanging breaking pitch, for a three-run homer to put Saddleback ahead, 3-1. Before that, he had struck out twice. It was his 13th home run.

“He had my number,” Lauderdale said, “and I got so frustrated. I was watching and noticed he was starting with a curveball to a lot of hitters.”

Lauderdale, a sophomore outfielder, added a bad-hop two-run double in the ninth to give him 65 runs batted in, a Saddleback single-season record.

Paul Day, a freshman outfielder, had two hits, including an RBI single, in the ninth. That hit gave him a Saddleback single-season record 75.

Willkie’s sixth-inning single advanced his hitting streak a single-season record 20 games.

Tack, a freshman right-hander, pitched 8 1/3 innings, giving up five hits and two runs. He gave up a home run to Cypress’ Jeremy Booth, his 13th, in the second, then hit Junior Rodriguez. A double play got him out of the second and he didn’t allow another runner until Greg Jacobs hit a homer, his second, with two outs in the seventh.

Brian Flanagan had a double and Kenny Granger reached first on an error in the eighth but Craig Kuzmic hit into a double play to end the inning.

“It was one of those days,” Tack said. “When everything was working, I just had all the confidence in the world.”

In an elimination game:

Cypress 6, Mt. San Antonio 1--Cypress sophomore Graham Mazur pitched a complete game as Cypress (37-12) eliminated Mt. San Antonio. Mazur gave up 10 hits, all singles, and struck out seven.

The Chargers broke the game open with three runs in the sixth. The key hit was a two-run single by Randy Case.

In the Citrus regional:

Rancho Santiago 12, Citrus 4--Brent Howes drove in six runs as Rancho Santiago erased an early 4-0 deficit to win the in the winners’ bracket final. Pitcher Brandon Hendrikx settled down after a four-run second, giving up only two hits and retiring 22 of the last 25 batters he faced. Hendrikx is 9-0.

In the fifth, Joe Secoda led off with a walk and a stolen base for the Dons (35-12). Secoda scored the tying run on Howes’ double. Howes then gave Rancho Santiago the lead for good, scoring on a single by Derek Baker.

Howes finished the game with four hits and two runs cored.

The Dons advance to today’s championship round at 11 a.m.