The University of Redlands baseball team earned split results during Friday's portion of the Cal Invite as the Bulldogs faced a pair of schools from the East Coast. After losing an extra-inning heartbreaker to the Scarlet Raiders of Rutgers University-Newark (NJ), the Bulldogs responded with a 21-9 thrashing of the Bombers of Ithaca College (NY).
In the first game, the Bulldogs owned a 6-2 lead going into the top of the ninth and appeared to have the victory in hand. However, the Scarlet Raiders took advantage of a faltering Redlands bullpen, which gave up four runs in the inning.
After a scoreless tenth, Rutgers-Newark recorded two runs off of a two-out double to take the lead.
Redlands rallied for one score in the bottom of the eleventh when junior first baseman Jon Cavender (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) singled through the left side to push across junior short stop Chase Tucker (Poway, CA), but that was all it could muster in the agonizing defeat.
Sophomore starting pitcher Paul Dippel (East Granby, CT) was in line for the victory as he tossed six strong innings and allowed only two runs on four hits. He also rang up six batters.
Four different Bulldogs posted a three-hit performance and sophomore third baseman Jason Henning (Redlands, CA) uncorked his fourth long ball of the season.
The Bulldogs quickly rebounded by warming up the bats early and often against the Bombers, registering a season-high 21 runs in the victory.
After gaining a 9-0 advantage after three frames, the Bulldogs continued to crush Ithaca's pitching staff by racking up five or more runs in two individual innings.
Senior right fielder Nate Carlson (Portland, OR) headlined the slugfest, going 5-for-5 at the dish, missing out on a cycle by just a triple. Carlson launched two dingers and drove in a team-best five RBI.
Henning wasn't far behind Carlson's effort as he went 4-for-5 with a homer, his second of the day, while crossing the plate on five occasions.
Seven hitters recorded a multi-hit game, with five of them notching more than one RBI.
Second-year hurler Kyle Hart (Poway, CA) tallied his fourth victory of the season by striking out six in six innings of work.
The Bulldogs continue competing in the Cal Invite with another non-conference doubleheader on Sunday. Redlands takes on the Big Red of Denison University (OH) before battling it out with the University of Puget Sound (WA) in a regional showdown. The first pitch has been moved up to 9 a.m. against the Big Red, with the second game scheduled to begin 30 minutes after the first.