Irvine Valley's baseball team dropped the final game of its Orange Empire Conference three-game set with Saddleback, 8-4, Saturday afternoon at home.
The Lasers were in it midway through, scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the score, 2-2.
But Saddleback sent 10 runners to the plate in the top of the fifth inning and scored six runs to put the game away.
The Bobcats went on to a 8-4 win to improve their record to 27-9 overall and 13-5 in conference. Irvine Valley had its record fall to 10-27 overall and 0-18 in conference.
Irvine Valley finishes the regular season next week with a three-game series against Golden West. IVC plays the at the Rustlers on Tuesday (2 p.m.) and Saturday (noon) and hosts GWC on Thursday at 2 p.m.
IVC got an RBI groundout by freshman third baseman Kevin James and a solo home run by sophomore left fielder Drew Porter in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the game up against Saddleback on Saturday.
But Saddleback batted around in the top of the fifth inning to take control.
The Bobcats scored six runs on four hits, two walks, one hit batter, a sac fly and an IVC error on a pick off.
Irvine Valley came back with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on a two-run home run by James, but the Lasers couldn't push anything else across. The home run was James' team-leading eighth of the season and improved his RBI total to a team-best 30.
For Irvine Valley, James went 1 for 4 with a home run and three RBI. Sophomore right-hander Sammy Murphy took the loss on the mound, giving up eight runs on eight hits and three walks.
J.C. Allen went 2 for 4 with two RBI and Zachary Schwartzberg also had two RBI for Saddleback.
