Rancho Santiago Shows Up Saddleback in Early Baseball Showdown

Rancho Santiago took the edge off the Orange Empire Conference showdown with host Saddleback by scoring six times in the first inning.

Matt Ward then prevented any comeback ideas Saddleback had with his strong pitching and Rancho Santiago continued to score and won, 18-1.

Ward, a sophomore left-hander, pitched an eight-hitter with five strikeouts and no walks to improve to 4-0.

It was the first loss of the season for Saddleback (17-1, 5-1 in conference) and moves Rancho Santiago (18-1-1, 5-0) into first place alone.

Saddleback made seven errors including four in the seventh inning as Rancho Santiago scored three unearned runs.

“That’s the best [Ward] has pitched all year,” Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon said. “It was great to win but you still have to play 19 more [conference] games.”

Erik Sobek drove in the first two runs of the game with a double and Ryan Blackmun capped the inning with another two-run double. In between, Joe Hurka had an RBI double and Rick Gonzalez drove in a run with a single.

Charlie Marino hit a three-run home run in the fifth that gave Rancho Santiago a 13-0 lead. Kevin Burford and Kevin Duck hit back-to-back home runs to start the sixth also for Rancho Santiago. It was the third home run of the season for Marino and the sixth each for Burford and Duck.