TUCSON, Ariz. – The University of Redlands Baseball team (10-10, 3-5) wrapped up their trip to Arizona for the Tucson Cactus Classic Sunday falling 12-7 in 10-innings to Saint John's University (Minn.).
The Bulldogs end the trip going 3-1 beating Macalester, Hamline and Luther.
The Johnnies got the first run of the game in their opening at-bats before the Bulldogs put-up three runs in the second coming on three hits. Max Clark (Fontana, CA) and Cade McClelland (Mission Viejo, CA) started things off with back to back singles and Esteban Nakashima (Riverside, CA) walked to load the bases. Kaiya Saito (Bellevue, WA) brought in the first run with a fielder's choice, Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA) brought in the second on a groundout and Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA) would move the score to 3-1 following a base hit.
Redlands tacked on another run in the third when Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) and Clark went back to back with doubles moving the score to 4-1.
SJU went on a 5-0 run across the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings as Redlands fell behind 6-4. In the bottom half of the sixth UR was able to deadlock the game thanks to Will Cell (Seattle, WA) who connected for his first collegiate home run, a two-run shot to left field, as he brought in Nakashima moving the score to 6-6.
Both teams were scoreless across the final three innings forcing the game into extras. That's when the Johnnies caught fire scoring six unearned run in the 10th to take a 12-6 lead. A solo home run from Clark in the bottom of the inning got a run back, but the Bulldogs would drop the finale 12-7.
Julian Zuniga (San Diego, CA) had the most successful stretch on the mound for the Bulldogs as he threw 1.2 scoreless innings. At the plate Clark had three of the Bulldogs' 11 hits as he drove in two runs and scored twice while also stealing a base.
The Bulldogs will continue with non-conference play this week beginning with Middlebury on Wednesday, March 22 beginning at 3:00 p.m. inside The Yard.