PC Ends Regular Season 31-8, Awaits SoCal Seed
ABOVE: Marc Sauceda beats out an infield single in the seventh inning that drove in the Comets' fourth run, giving the Comets a two-run cushion in Friday's regular-season finale at Southwestern. -- Photo by Phlip Farry. BELOW: Cameron Haskell who recorded his second save of the season and also went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, two singles and a sacrifice fly
CHULA VISTA (4-28-2017) -- Palomar fell just short of winning its eighth Pacific Coast Athletic Conference baseball title in the last nine years as the Comets ended the regular season at 31 wins and 8 losses with a 6-4 road victory over Southwestern.
Palomar (21-3 in the PCAC) finished one game behind champion Grossmont (22-2), a 7-1 winner over College of the Desert, and now awaits the results of Sunday's seeding meeting in Santa Clarita to find out where it fits in the Southern California Regional Playoffs which begin next Friday.
Palomar trailed Southwestern (25-15, 14-10) by 2-0 enterting the top of the sixth despite a strong performance from starting pitcher Josh Sidney. The Comets pulled even at 2-2 in the inning on Cameron Haskell's double, back-to-back singles by Conor McKenna and Marc Sauceda, the latter to drive in their first run, and a fielder's choice by Carl Schwettmann which chased home the tying run.
Palomar went in front for the first time 4-2 in the seventh inning on a single by Marco Young, Gabe Willes' sacrifice bunt, Cody Norton's single, Haskell's sacrifice fly that scored Young, McKenna's RBI double and Sauceda's infield single that drove in Norton.
And the Comets added made it 6-2 in the top of the eighth on Schwettmann's leadoff single, Jared Montoya's sacrifice bunt, a walk to Christian Colon, Joey Cooper's RBI single that scored Schwettmann and Willes' single to the right side that drove in Colon.
Kevin Palm, who relieved Sidney with two outs in the sixth, allowed one earned run in two innings to record the win. Haskell, the fourth Palomar pitcher of the afternoon, went from designated hitter to the mound to begin the ninth inning and notched his second save.
Haskell (3-for-4), Norton (2-for-5), Sauceda (2-for-3) and Schwettmann (2-for-4) contributed multiple hits to highlight a 12-hit attack for the Comets.