The City College baseball team dropped two close games, 3-4 and 7-9, in a doubleheader at Pershing Park on Saturday against the Saddleback Gauchos.

Saddleback jumped ahead early in game one, scoring three runs off Kylin Turnbull in the first inning. They added one more in the fifth to build a 4-0 lead.

“I settled down later in the game,” starting pitcher Kylin Turnbull said. “I just left too many pitches high in that first inning.”

The Vaqueros battled back late, scoring runs in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings.

Daniel Howell sparked a rally in the top of the ninth when his two-out single drove in Zach Pecyna to bring City College within a run. Cody Giordano then singled to load the bases but Colt McLaughlin flied out to end the game.

“Any time your down three runs to start a game it is going to be tough,” said Head Coach Ryan Thompson. “We battled back, it just wasn’t enough.”

In the second game, it was the Vaqs who started quickly scoring five runs on five hits in the first inning. Robert Vickers belted a two-run single and Shay Maltese knocked in two more on his double to give City College an early lead.

Saddleback scored five unearned runs in the fourth inning to tie the game but the Vaqs took back the lead in the fifth inning thanks to a two-run single by Howell.

More problems on defense hurt City College in the seventh inning, as two errors led to another run for the visitors.

Dylan Christianson smashed a two-run homer in the eighth inning putting Saddleback in the lead 8-7. The Gauchos added one more in the ninth inning to make the final 9-7.

“It definitely hurts, especially after coming out with a quick lead,” said sophomore catcher Tommy White. “We just miss executed some pitches and we paid for it.”

Thompson emphasized that pitching and defense would be the strength of the Vaqs this season but right now, those are proving to be the biggest areas for concern.

In the second game on Saturday, six of Saddleback’s nine runs were unearned. The Vaqs recorded a total of five errors on the day.

The two losses brought City College down to 1-5 on the season while Saddleback improved to 4-2.

“Every game we have lost could have been changed by one swing of the bat,” said White. “We’ll bounce back, there is still a long season ahead of us.”

The Vaqueros will host to Irvine Valley on Friday at 1 p.m. at Pershing Park for their next game.