SAN MARCOS– The No. 4-ranked Palomar baseball team brought out the brooms after sweeping a three-game series against conference rival San Diego City.
Coming into the series, the Comets were at the top of the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference with a 15-4 record. San Diego City has struggled all season and has a conference record of 3-16. The Comets and the Knights matched up earlier in the season, with Palomar winning both matchups.
Palomar won the first game of the series on the road by a final score of 13-8.
In game two of the series, the Comets got off to a great start defensively as in the top of the second inning, shortstop Jacob Loving got a double play, getting Knights designated hitter Anders Nilsson out on second base. Quickly threw the ball to first baseman Drake Cobb to get the third out.
“It starts with the pitching, honestly. We were looking for a ground ball and got lucky right up in [the] middle, took it myself and trusted Drake at first base, to catch the ball,” Loving said.
At the bottom of the second inning, the Comets scored six runs, starting strong with Adrian Macias getting a triple and then going through the entire lineup. The Comets win with AJ Klubeck, Adrian Macias, Jacob Loving, Braedon Peterson-Cheek, Brendan Shanahan, and Carter Jorissen touching home plate and making the score 6-0.
The Comets’ defense kept the Knights from scoring any runs for five innings, and a low-scoring game ensued.
“The defense played well and the defense kept a big inning becoming more and in a four-run game, if we didn’t make those plays, it’s a different game,” Head Coach Ben Adams said.
Starting pitcher Ian Mowad played a considerable part defensively, with four strikeouts and only allowing two bases on balls.
“I just took it one pitch at a time, when you’re facing guys three times around, you gotta switch it up… I started with the slider, maybe gonna go fastball. Just compete in the best pitch and let my defense do the work. They did an excellent job,” Mowad said.
With the Comets’ conference season ending in just four games, Adams shared his feelings about the rest of the season and how that may affect the playoffs.
“We’re in a situation where we control what we’re gonna do or what’s gonna happen. We just have to make sure we take care of what we’re supposed to do, and everything else would be fine,” Adams said.
The Palomar baseball team is auctioning one of its gold jerseys they wore during game two of the series against San Diego City College to raise funds for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. This fundraiser will go on for the remainder of the Comets’ season. Palomar College Baseball Jerseys.
The next home game will be on Tuesday at 2 p.m. against Imperial Valley College.
Series Recap:
Game 1: 13:8 W
Game 2: 10-6 W
Game 3: 8-5 W
