Gauchos Get State Tournament Berth

Saddleback, after four years of frustrating finishes in the regional round of the playoffs, finally got to celebrate Sunday.

After losing the first game, the Gauchos bounced back to defeat Cerritos, 11-2, and earn a berth in the state tournament, which starts Saturday in Fresno.

“I’m speechless right now,” Saddleback Coach Jack Hodges said. “This is the best group we’ve ever had.”

In three of the last four seasons, Saddleback was eliminated on the final day of regional play.

Matt Sorensen (12-1) pitched a six-hitter for Cerritos, which won the first game, 8-1.

“I was worried after that game,” Hodges said. “It wasn’t so much that we were flat but that Sorensen did such a good job.”

But Saddleback (37-10) took control of the second game, getting three runs in the first inning.

Sophomore right-hander Pat Versluis, making his first start in five weeks, took it from there.

He limited Cerritos to two runs on six hits over seven innings.

“I was pumped up to start,” Versluis said. “I was ready for it. When they stuck me down in the pen I just worked my butt off to be ready.”

He also had struck out four and walked four.

“I wasn’t on the top of my game when I went to the bullpen,” Versluis said. “So to get back into it I decided I was going to work my hardest.”

Versluis was a starter for the Gauchos last season but spent much of the second half of this season in the bullpen after Keoka Colon emerged as a starter.

Versluis worked the final inning to get his first save in relief of Colon in Saddleback’s 6-3 victory over Cerritos on Saturday. But he was needed in the second game Sunday as a starter.

Levi Groomer had two-run double and Lars Birkeland followed with another double in the first for Saddleback.

Clare Langford had two doubles and drove in a run, but the biggest hit came from freshman Greg Pines.

He hit a three-run homer over the left-field fence to put the Gauchos ahead, 10-2.

Nick Punto, Jason Marian, Kirk Bolling, Groomer, Birkeland and Brian Griffin each had two hits. Saddleback finished with 16 hits.

The Gauchos, who set a single-season record with 37 victories, will face Canada at 2 p.m. in the first round of the state tournament Saturday.

Los Angeles Harbor, which beat Riverside on Sunday, 8-6, will play Sacramento in the other first-round game at 7 p.m.