The University of Redlands baseball team headed to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges for a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, the Stags got hot early in both games, sending the Bulldogs home with a 2-4 and 3-9 loss.
Junior pitcher Justin Yang (Fountain Valley, CA) took the mound for the Bulldogs in game one. He went three up, three down in the first inning to put Redlands back on offense quickly.
The Bulldogs tried to get things going in the second as first-year designated hitter Max Clark (Etiwanda, CA) led off with a single. First-year second baseman Jonah Advincula (Santa Clara, CA) followed with another base hit to center field that sent Clark to third. However, CMS secured the final two outs to keep the score 0-0.
The Stags added one run in the second and three runs in the third to put Redlands in an 0-4 hole after three. CMS was threatening to score again in the fifth on a sacrifice fly to right as the runner from third tagged up, but junior right fielder Cal Bridges (Fremont, CA) secured the flyout and nailed the runner attempting to come home for the third out.
The Maroon and Gray jumped on the board with a single run in the seventh and the eighth to cut the deficit to two, 2-4. With Bridges on second, sophomore shortstop Max Smyley (Sarasota, FL) sent an RBI-single to left for Redlands' first run of the game. In the eighth, sophomore center fielder Payton Walsh (Santa Ana, CA) led off with a two-bagger to right-center. He advanced on the subsequent single and was sent home on an RBI sacrifice fly to left.
But that was all the runs Redlands could muster, falling 2-4.
CMS continued to stay hot at the dish, plating five runs over the first and second innings of game two.
Nonetheless, in the top of the sixth after two singles and a wild pitch, Redlands has runners on second and third with only one out. Sophomore first baseman Chris Hardin (Highland, CA) sent a bases-clearing triple to deep center field to lessen the gap to 2-5.
The Bulldogs also scored in the top of the seventh as Advincula found his way on first via base on balls. He proceeded to steal second and headed to third on a deep flyout. He then came home on a wild pitch for a 3-5 Redlands score.
However, the Stags put up four more runs over the next two innings to hand the Bulldogs a 3-9 loss.
The Bulldogs (7-6, 3-2 SCIAC) are set to take on Occidental College on Sunday, March 1, for a non-conference game against the Tigers.