The Western Nevada Community College baseball team continued to hold its own against ranked teams, but this time lost to the No. 8 ranked team in California on Friday.
WNCC fell to Saddleback in Mission Viejo 2-0. WNCC (3-2) was coming off last weekend in which it beat three nationally ranked teams.
Saddleback scored both of its runs in the third inning. The Wildcats lacked clutch hitting as they left seven runners in the last four innings and also hit into four double plays.
"We played well but we didn't get any clutch hits," WNCC coach D.J. Whittemore said. "But generall a well played game, a well pitched game."
Seven players had one hit in WNCC's seven-hit attack, with Carson High graduate Aaron Henry picking up the only extra base hit, a double. Brett Mosher, Kyle Bondurant, Tyson Jaquez, Taylor Meiras, Chadd Dudley and Jerahmie Libke all had one hit.
WNCC again received solid pitching from starter Justin Garcia and relievers Dan Grubbs of McQueen and Jake Bottari. Garcia struck two and walked one before giving way to Grubbs in the fifth. Grubbs had an outstanding effort with four strikeouts and no walks before giving way to Bottari in the eighth.
WNCC continues its Southern California tour today against Irvine Valley at 9 a.m. in Irvine and Santa Ana at 2 p.m. in Santa Ana.