Brandon Evans went 2-4 and drove in four runs on Saturday, leading No. 4 SBCC to an 8-5 baseball win over Saddleback in the first game of a doubleheader in Mission Viejo. The Gauchos, ranked No. 12 in Southern Cal, handed the Vaqueros (5-1) their first loss with a 7-1 win in the nightcap.
Freshman left-hander Lucas Jacobsen picked up his second win by holding Saddleback to two runs on five hits in five-plus innings in the opener. He struck out eight and walked three. Kit Larson fanned two in a scoreless ninth to earn his first save.
Evans, a sophomore center fielder from Oaks Christian High, had a two-run single in the first and a two-run double in the third as the Vaqueros built a 5-0 lead.
Matt Henderson and Connor McManigal were both 3-5 with Henderson scoring three times and McManigal twice. The top three hitters in the order – Spencer Erdman, Henderson and McManigal – went 8-for-15 with six runs.
The Vaqueros made it 7-0 in the fifth when Erdman and Henderson singled and came around to score on a single to center by McManigal and a sacrifice fly by James Brakka.
Saddleback (5-1) made things interesting by scoring two in the sixth and three in the eighth to pull within two at 7-5. The Vaqueros got their final run in the ninth when Matt Gimenez walked, went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Noeh Martinez and scored on a single by Erdman.
In the second game, the Gauchos grabbed a 2-0 first-inning lead, then took advantage or walks, errors and wild pitches to stretch it to 6-1 in the sixth. The Vaqueros scored an unearned run in the fourth with Martinez scoring on an infield error.
Jackson Rees went six innings to pick up the win as three pitchers combined on a two-hitter. Sean Barry gave up four runs (two earned) on two hits in 6.1 innings and suffered the loss. Catcher Casey Worden had a pair of run-scoring doubles for the Gauchos.
The Vaqueros will play a two-game series with East L.A., traveling to Monterey Park on Tuesday and hosting the Huskies on Thursday. Both games start at 2 p.m.
