Comets silence Knights in regular season finale

SAN MARCOS, CA (4/26/2024) -- Palomar College and San Diego City College squared off in the series finale for the regular season. Palomar swept City by taking the games 15-2, 4-2 and 19-1 to finish the regular season 30-9. 

The Comets took game one behind a big fifth inning where they scored six runs. Makana Olaso had a two-run shot and then Anthony Pacino was hit by a pitch, followed by a Ryan Rivera single and a Luke Matthews walk. Pacino scored on a wild pitch from third. Patrick McLellan then had a three-run homer to make it 7-2 Comets. The Comets tacked on another four in the seventh. Olaso hit another bomb after a Lazuka triple. Pacino followed it up with a single and Rivera doubled to score Pacino. McLellan then singled to plate Rivera. 

In the 4-2 win on Thursday, the Comets scored their first two runs on groundouts by Olaso and Pacino. Their final two runs came in the sixth when Carter Jorissen tripled to plate Matthews and Colby Rafail singled to score Jorissen. Ryan Herrod pitched for Palomar and went 8.0 innings to advance to 8-1 on the season. He allowed one run on five hits and struck out nine. Noah Waldeck collected his second save of the season in the ninth when he didn't allow a hit or run and struck out one. 

In game three for the Comets, Ian Mowad started and pitched 5.0 innings. He struck out five batters and allowed four hits. Nathaniel Helton, Lucas Smith, Brandon Bollerer and Cade Johnson each pitched an inning of relief. Helton, Bollerer and Johnson didn't allow a hit and Helton and Bollerer each struck out a batter. On the offensive side, Elijah Cook when 2-4 with four RBI and two runs and Makana Olaso went 4-4 with five RBI and a run. Colby Rafail went 1-5 with three RBI and two runs while Noah Lazuka went 2-4 with two RBI. Vance Sartor was 1-1 with three RBI. 

Palomar finishes the regular season 30-9 and 23-2 in PCAC play. They will await the playoff seeding meeting on Sunday to where they end up.