The University of Redlands baseball team rounded out its regular-season action by facing off against the eighth-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Stags in the fourth and final Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Final-Four contest on Tuesday afternoon. Due to enough offense and a dominant showing by the bullpen, the Bulldogs reeled in a 5-2 victory to lock up the No. 2-seed in the upcoming SCIAC Postseason Tournament.
The Bulldogs struck first in the top of the opening inning, as the senior duo of catcher Sean McMillan (Redwood City, CA) and shortstop Jordan Dresner (Etiwanda, CA) barreled back-to-back RBI-knocks, scoring sophomore second baseman Christopher Scalisi (Woodland Hills, CA) and McMillan, respectively, for the 2-0 lead.
Freshman hurler Matthew Acosta (San Bernardino, CA) was handed the pearl for the opening two frames and kept the Stags off the board while allowing a mere hit and fanning three batters, two of which were looking.
The Bulldogs returned to their scoring basics in the top of the third, as senior right-fielder Connor Hancock (Burbank, CA) plated junior third baseman Mark Tumlinson (Anaheim, CA) by lacing a two-out double down the left field line to expand Redlands' lead to 3-0.
After CMS trimmed the Maroon and Gray's advantage to one run, the Bulldogs responded with a run in the top half of the fourth inning, compliments of a sacrifice fly from Scalisi to score freshman designated hitter Joey Warner (Indio, CA).
After giving up two runs in the bottom of the third, senior southpaw Josh Makler (Portland, OR) settled in and blanked the Stags in the following two innings of work while striking out three batters in the process.
The Maroon and Gray stretched its lead to 5-2 in the top of the sixth inning after Warner reached base on a one-out double and eventually crossed the dish via error.
The Bulldog bullpen took care of the rest, as freshman Adam Stead (Rialto, CA), freshman Noah Jones (San Bernardino, CA), sophomore John White (Burbank, CA), and junior Kevin Stevens (Highland, CA) combined for four shutout innings en route to the 5-2 victory. Stevens earned his first save of the year, as well.
Warner notched a 2-for-3 day at the plate with two doubles, one RBI, and two runs scored.
Acosta collected his eighth win of the year after his two innings of dominant work.
With the victory, Redlands sits in a tie for second with Pomona-Pitzer Colleges but gains the tiebreaker as a result of its record against conference-leading Cal Lutheran University. As the No. 2-seed in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament, the Bulldogs host the third-seeded Sagehens on Friday, May 1, at 3 p.m. After Friday's contest, the remainder of the SCIAC Postseason Tournament takes place at the top-seeded Cal Lutheran University.