A wild ride it was.

After numerous come-from-behind victories, the baseball team finally came up short, losing to the Saddleback Gauchos, 13-9, Sunday at Santa Ana.

The loss eliminated the Warriors from the Southern California regional playoffs with an overall record of 30-7. The Warriors came within one victory of advancing to the state championship in Fresno.

“Being the thirteenth seed and fighting through the third, fourth, and fifth seeds, is not easy at any level,” Gauchos’ coach Jack Hodges said. “We really had to face some adversity and scrap through it.”

“It was a good game,” coach Greg Bergeron said. “We never die. We just came up a little short, but not from a lack of effort.”

Posing a consistent threat, Hodges brought in his best pitcher, sophomore J.P. Sandoval, with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Last year, Sandoval carried the Gauchos into the playoffs as they finished runners-up to state champion Cypress. However, this year Sandoval has been slowed down by an injury.

“He had a rib pop out and the injury prevented him from going deep into games,” Hodges said. “But we had to use him again.”

It turned out to be a good decision as Sandoval silenced the Warrior offense. The right-handed pitcher, in four 2/3 innings, allowed only one-earned run and struck out 10 batters.

The Warriors’ offense was rolling untill Sandoval came in, combining to hit four home runs and driving in eight runs in fewer than five innings of play.

“I thought we were going to do more against him just because he was throwing so many fastballs,” sophomore Ryan Sharman said. “We just couldn’t catch up and he shut us down. We just have to tip our hats to him, I guess.”

As much as Sandoval was a factor, the Warriors’ pitching staff was nowhere to be found. As a unit, it gave up 10 runs in the first four innings.

“I felt our pitching could have been a little better,” freshman Craig Ganser said. “It was disappointing that our season came to an end.”

While the season is over, the Warriors can’t hang their heads.

The baseball team made life interesting as they won two playoff games in their final at bats and finished with 30 victories.

“I don’t know if EC has ever had thirty wins in a season,” Sharman said. “We swept L.A. Harbor and Cerritos for the first time in college history.”

A large group of talented players came together for Bergeron to form one of the most impressive lineups in EC history.

“Our entire starting lineup is either on the first or second team, and we had MVP, Larry Williams,” Bergeron said. “It was a great year, bottom line. We have nothing to hang our heads about.”

The many come-from-behind victories could be attributed to the intensity that he passed along to his players.

“They refuse to lose. These guys just never say die,” Bergeron said. “They’re the most fun group of guys that I’ve ever been around.”

Players Honored

South Bay Conference

MVP: Larry Williams, Fr./1B

First team: Kris Medlen, Fr./2B
Travis LeBouf, So./3B
Anthony Garcia, So./CF
Ryan Sharman, So./RF
Craig Ganser, Fr./RHP

Second team:
Joel Weeks, Fr./SS
Bart Babineaux, So./LF

Honorable mentions:
Andy Magana, So./3B
David Treat, So./C
Bobby Nunn, Fr./LHP