Baseball season ends at Palomar
Cats lose 13-inning thriller in San Marcos
| Final (13) | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 22 | 2 |
|
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 15 | 1 |
The Saddleback baseball season came to a close in the second round of the playoffs following a 12-11 loss in 13 innings to Palomar College. It was the 20th game of the season decided by one run.
Saddleback had one of the more exciting seasons in program history in 2026. A total of 20 games were decided by one run. Unfortunately, the Bobcats saw their season come to an end after a grueling battle against the top seed in Southern California.
Saddleback jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the opening inning, turning the tables on a Palomar squad that had scored seven in the first inning a day earlier. The Bobcats capitalized on some pitching issues as the Comet staff served up two walks and a hit batter while their defense had a costly error. Saddleback made the Comets pay with four singles in the inning in jumping out to a big lead.
Keeping Palomar off the scoreboard, however, proved to be a challenge. The Comets bounced back with two runs in both the second and third innings in cutting the Saddleback lead to 6-4. Palomar would come all the way back to lead 10-8 in the top half of the eighth inning when scoring three times. From that point forward, both teams battled and scratched all the way into the 13th inning.
Palomar started the 13th inning by scoring a pair of runs to take a 12-10 lead. Their 22nd hit of the game was a double from Michael Rodda to drive home Gavin Malcomson and later in the inning Elijah Stephens would score on a sacrifice fly.
Saddleback had one more chance to extend the game but came up just short in the bottom half of the inning. The Bobcats got within one run when Matthew Henning singled home Austin Palmares to get within 12-11. Unfortunately, the Bobcats would leave the bases loaded in seeing their season come to an end. Saddleback wrapped out 15 hits of their own but came up one hit shy of extending the series in falling to the Comets, two games to nothing.
Saddleback had its own offensive stars in the game. Sophomores Joey Doskocil, Dmitri Susidko, Matthew Henning and Jack Borges weren't going to go down quietly. Doskocil finished 4-for-5 while Susidko was 4-for-6 with three runs-scored. Henning finished 3-for-4 with a walk and three RBI. Borges (pictured) was 2-for-6 with a walk and three RBI.
Saddleback finishes the 2026 season at 27-19 overall.