The University of Redlands baseball team took on the second day of the Cactus Classic on Saturday in Tucson, AZ, with a pair of games. The team blanked Sul Ross State (TX), 3-0, in game one, before dropping a 5-10 loss to Linfield College (OR) in the nightcap.
In the opening game against the Sul Ross Lobos, senior hurler John Keane (Clayton, CA) took the mound for his first start of the 2017 season. Keane tossed two strikeouts in seven innings of work.
After two unproductive innings, the Bulldog bats came alive in the bottom of the third, beginning with junior left-fielder Kyle Kabeary (Indio, CA) as the lead-off hitter. After crushing a double, he moved to third on the subsequent batter and crossed home plate on a throwing error by the pitcher for Redlands' first score of the game.
Holding tight to his team's 1-0 lead, Keane continued to roll through the Lobos' line-up over the next few innings.
In the bottom of the sixth, Redlands strung together three-consecutive singles to plate another run. Junior designated hitter Joey Warner (Indio, CA) got things going, followed by junior catcher Rainier Aguilar's (San Bernardino, CA) base-knock that sent Warner to third. Freshman first basemen Andrew Renteria (Van Nuys, CA) was up next and slotted an RBI-single to score Warner for the Bulldogs' 2-0 advantage.
On to the bottom of the seventh inning, the top of the order was due up, with senior center-fielder Christian Conci (San Mateo, CA) leading things off for the Maroon and Gray. After blasting a single, he made his way to third on the next few batters. With one out, Warner stepped up to send a sacrifice fly deep to center field, allowing Conci to tag up and score for Redlands' 3-0 lead.
After seven quality frames, Keane was lifted by junior pitcher Adam Stead (Rialto, CA), who proceeded to shut down Sul Ross State while fanning three batters.
With very little rest between games, Redlands took on Linfield College (OR) in its second outing of the day. The Bulldogs started the game strong by knocking three hits for three runs. Conci led off the inning with a single, which was followed by a base-knock off the bat of junior right-fielder Jordan Babbitt (Highland, CA). After Scalisi drew a walk, Warner laced a deep single to score both Conci and Babbitt. With two outs, sophomore short stop Aaron Singh (Anaheim, CA) dinged a hit to score Scalisi and put Redlands up 3-0 in the first.
Fast forward to the top of the sixth, the Bulldogs held a slight 5-4 advantage over Linfield. Unfortunately for the Maroon and Gray, the Wildcats put together a breakout, bottom of the sixth while capitalizing on four Bulldog errors and two hits for a total of six runs.
The deficit was too large for Redlands to overcome in the next three innings and eventually fell by a score of 5-10.
Redlands (3-2) looks to return to the win column on Sunday when it faces Pacific University (OR) in the final game of the Cactus Classic. First pitch is slated for 9 a.m. PST.