Palomar College scored three times in the ninth inning - twice unearned - to break a scoreless tie and go on to beat San Bernardino Valley College on Saturday afternoon.
Both teams were locked in a pitcher's dual through the first eight innings, with neither team budging on defense. Andrew Aguilera and Palomar starter Josh Sidney each were strong on the mound, striking out four and five batters respectively, but neither was around for the final decision.
In the ninth, Robert Luna, who relieved Aguilera in the eighth, got the first out, then gave up a single to Marco Young. Elijah Thomas followed with a bloop single, moving Young to second. With Matthew Ornelia at the plate, both runners took off for a double steal, and catcher Tristen Macias tried to get Thomas at second. But his throw bounded into the outfield, allowing both runners to come around and score to make it 2-0.
Ornelia followed that up with a line single up the middle, and he promptly stole second. Conor McKenna followed with a single, scoring Ornelia for all the runs the Comets would get, despite loading the bases. Reliever Nicholas Aldana got Tristen King to ground into a double play - Tyler Van Marter to Nathaniel Sisk - to end the threat.
The Wolverines' best chance came in the third. Joshua Torrance led off with a single and was bunted to second by Joseph Rodriguez. Adrian Garcia singled, moving Torrance to third with one out. But the top of the SBVC order could not plate the run.
Garcia was 2-for-3, while Macias was 2-for-4 at the plate. Torrance was also on base twice, going 1-for-2 with a walk. The top four batters in the SBVC lineup were 0-for-16 with six strikeouts.
Young let the way for Palomar, going 3-for-4 with the run scored.