The University of Redlands baseball team put together one of its best overall records in program history with a 29-11 performance, falling just one win shy of tying the Bulldogs' standard from the 2006 season. With a 20-8 showing in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action, Head Coach Scott Laverty's squad successfully established a new record for conference victories while finishing tied for second place. By pounding out 3.30 doubles per game, the Bulldogs led all Division III institutions in this category and landed among the nation's top-10 for nine other statistical areas, including second for batting average at .374 and second for total doubles with 132. In addition, various individuals gained national accolades, providing further evidence of another outstanding season of Redlands baseball.
The 2010 campaign kicked off with consecutive wins over La Sierra University before jumping right into conference competition with a three-game set against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges. Although the team dropped the opener against the Stags, Redlands rallied to take two of three in this important showdown. In a back-and-forth battle during the nightcap, the Maroon and Gray faced a one-run deficit going into the bottom of the ninth inning. With two runners on and one out, junior right fielder Nate Carlson (Portland, OR) hammered a pitch over the left-field fence for a walk-off home run in only his 19th at-bat of the season, leading to an 8-6 victory against CMS.
One week later, the Bulldogs repeated their two-of-three showing with wins over the University of La Verne in the first and third games of the series. During the team's 4-2 victory, junior pitcher Derek Johnson (Canby, OR) supplied a virtuoso effort, striking out nine while allowing two runs in seven innings of work. Sophomore pitcher Brock Jacobo (Yuma, AZ) garnered the save, holding the Leopards to one hit over two innings.
Following a difficult learning opportunity in an exhibition contest against the University of British Columbia (CAN), Redlands refocused for a nine-game winning streak that included sweeps over conference foes Cal Lutheran University, which was ranked 20th at the time, and Occidental College.
On Feb. 28, Redlands' six-run ninth inning in the nightcap ensured the sweep over the Kingsmen, stamping an exclamation point on the series. The Bulldogs burned through four pitchers that inning while accumulating five hits and taking advantage of two CLU errors.
Against Occidental, Jacobo served as the hero of the doubleheader, inheriting three base-runners with no outs in the top of the ninth of game two. He struck out two and forced a lineout to secure the series sweep after D. Johnson collected 10 strikeouts during his eight-inning performance. On offense, a quartet of Bulldog batters accounted for the majority of the team's 12-hit production as senior centerfielder Will Wetmore (Santa Cruz, CA), junior leftfielder Brandon Owashi (San Diego, CA), senior catcher Jefre Johnson (Canby, OR), and sophomore second baseman Chase Tucker (Poway, CA) each tallied two hits in the game.
Amidst this span of victories, Redlands held nothing back against the highly touted Scarlet Raiders of Rutgers University-Newark (NJ) in two lopsided triumphs. In the first outing, graduate student Matt Hughes (Westminster, CA), who was one of only three Bulldogs to play the entire game, enjoyed a prolific offensive showing by going 4-for-6 with five RBI and two runs scored. On the mound for Redlands, senior pitcher Michael Lessig (Fountain Hills, AZ) moved his record to 5-1 on the year, matching his career-high for wins in a season.
In its second bout with Rutgers-Newark, Redlands tied the program record for hits in a game with 33. Sophomore first baseman Jon Cavender (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) also tied the program standard for individual hits in a game with six. Overall, eleven different Bulldogs notched more than one hit in the 31-0 thrashing of the Scarlet Raiders.
An extra-inning loss to Menlo College spurred the Maroon and Gray onto another impressive streak of nine wins through April 3. During this stretch, the Bulldog produced double-digit scoring in six of these victories and gave up four or less runs on all but one occasion. In addition, Redlands garnered another conference sweep on the season by handing three losses to the Poets of Whittier College.
On the same day as its defeat to Menlo, Redlands gained a historical achievement from Carlson, who hit for the cycle on a 4-for-5 showing with three RBI and four runs scored against the University of Puget Sound (WA). While lifting the Maroon and Gray to an 18-14 victory, he became just the third-ever Bulldog player to hit for the cycle and the first-ever to record the feat against a team other than Caltech.
On March 27, the Maroon and Gray enjoyed two repeat performances of the season by racking up 33 hits to tie the program record again, while Carlson provided his second cycle en route to a resounding 28-3 victory over Caltech.
Three days later, the Bulldogs cracked the national polls for the first time in 2010, reaping the benefits of winning 16 of their last 17 games. Redlands landed at No. 9 on the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Collegiate Baseball Poll and at No. 23 among D3baseball.com's elite list.
With motivation and momentum on its side, the Redlands baseball team continued to push for the coveted SCIAC Championship, moving into a tie for first place after nabbing two of three games from annual contender and fifth-ranked Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. Taking to the mound in the rubber match, D. Johnson tossed a complete game for the Bulldogs that resulted in a 7-1 triumph. He held the Sagehens to just one run on six hits and two walks while striking out three en route to his ninth victory of the year.
The Bulldogs entered the final round of single games against their conference foes in prime position for an exciting finish. However, their opponents delivered alternative plans as Redlands suffered a difficult spiral of five losses in its last seven SCIAC match-ups, yielding consecutive defeats for the first time all season.
Amidst this difficult stretch, the Maroon and Gray handily defeated La Verne by a score of 14-6. On April 16, Redlands held a 7-0 lead after five innings but a relentless Leopard squad pushed four runs across during the next two frames. The Bulldogs responded in the bottom of the eighth with a seven-run explosion, leaving no doubt about their victory.
After falling into a tie for second place with Cal Lutheran, Redlands rallied for a record-breaking 34-4 victory over Caltech on May 1 to finish up the conference season. The team tied the program's standard for runs in a game with its impressive outburst. In addition, Redlands brought its total to 392 runs on the season, which surpassed the single-season program record of 372. With this offensive explosion, the Maroon and Gray also extended its single-season doubles record (125) and single-season record for RBI (349). These numbers continued to climb through the final week of the regular season, simply crushing the previous marks.
Following the conference season, the team garnered a conference-high seven All-SCIAC honorees, featuring the highest total for the Bulldog baseball program since 1998.
Redlands completed its regular season schedule with a three-game tilt against No. 6 Chapman University, beginning with Senior Day at The Yard on May 7. Despite honoring a decorated class of graduates, the Bulldogs came up short in the runs column and suffered back-to-back losses to the Panthers.
However, the Maroon and Gray bounced back in the final outing of the 2010 campaign with an 8-1 decision over the regional powerhouse. For the second time this season, D. Johnson went the distance on the mound for Redlands, allowing one run on seven hits while striking out six. He moved to 12-2 on the year, tying the program record for pitching victories in a single season while finishing ranked first in all of Division III for this category.
By settling for a second-place tie in the SCIAC, Redlands was forced to await the NCAA's announcement of any postseason possibilities as an at-large bid. Unfortunately, the team's strong three-quarters of the season was not enough to merit an invitation to the "big show".
Beyond their 29 victories, the Bulldogs garnered numerous awards and accolades during the 2010 campaign, including the school's third College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America honor of 2009-10. Graduate student designated hitter Brett Sandford (Santa Barbara, CA) became just the second-ever Bulldog baseball player to receive this distinction. During his final season at Redlands, he assembled a .393 batting average while leading the team in on-base percentage (.495), runs scored (55), hits (59) and walks (27). He finished out the 2010 campaign ranked second on the program's all-time list for runs scored in a single season, sitting just one shy of the record.
In addition, the Bulldogs boasted five members who received ABCA/Rawlings® All-West Region accolades, including Carlson as Redlands' sole All-Region First-Team recipient while also gaining a spot on the Gold Glove Team for outstanding defense. In addition, Lessig and D. Johnson landed on the Second Team, with senior short stop Zack Braband (Alameda, CA) earning Third-Team laurels. Finally, J. Johnson was honored with a spot on the West Region's Gold Glove Team.
Despite falling short of its annual goals of winning the conference title and making the NCAA playoffs, the Redlands baseball team provided an exciting and impressive run during the 2010 season. While filling the voids left by its graduating class of competitors promises to be difficult, the Bulldogs hold high expectations for the future of their returning contributors as well as for the program as a whole. With Laverty approaching his 12th season at the helm, Redlands baseball continues to raise the bar for powerful hits, big plays and stellar pitching en route to competing among the best in the west and beyond.