The No. 19 University of Redlands baseball team lost, 3-7, at the hands of Whittier College in its first game of the California Invitational on Friday.

Whittier went up early, scoring a run in both the first and second innings. The Poets erupted for four runs in the sixth as Anthony Cappaletti and Austin Straus hit back-to-back home runs, accounting for three RBI apiece.

Redlands mounted a comeback in the seventh, which started off with a sophomore first baseman Manny Cardeiro (San Diego, CA) single to right field. Senior outfielder Cory Vane doubled to left center, advancing Cardeiro to third. Following a wild pitch, Cardeiro scored the inning’s first run right before senior outfielder Matt Goldstein (Lincoln, CA) ripped a triple down the rightfield line and brought Vane home. Senior outfielder Jordan Snider (Temecula, CA) cleared the bases with a sacrifice fly to center in the ensuing at bat.

The Bulldogs were unable to score the rest of the game and finished the contest with eight hits.

Vane stretched his hitting streak to 10 games and had a stellar performance at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one run.

Freshman pitcher Brock Jacobo (Yuma, AZ) got the starting nod and pitched 5.2 innings, allowing four earned runs on nine hits while striking out four. With the loss, Jacobo dropped to 2-1 on the year.

Redlands (13-5, 6-0 SCIAC) continues on with action in the California Invitational with a 10 a.m. game against Rutgers University-Camden (NJ) tomorrow at The Yard.