The No. 21 University of Redlands baseball team completed a season sweep of the Tigers of Occidental College on Friday afternoon by scoring 10 late runs to come from behind for the 13-9 victory at the Yard.
The Maroon and Gray endured a tough start that included a mix of defensive miscues, but also saw a prolific Tiger offense push across eight runs during the first three innings.
In addition, Bulldog batters struggled to find any holes in the Oxy defense, tallying only one hit through the first five innings.
In the bottom of the sixth, sophomore centerfielder Ryan Buscemi (Tiburon, CA) provided Redlands' first offensive spark by taking the Tigers deep for his inaugural collegiate home run. After his solo shot, the Bulldogs tacked on another two runs, cutting their deficit to five at 3-8.
Refusing to go away quietly, Redlands finally found its stride in the seventh when junior shortstop Chase Tucker (Poway, CA) cleared the bases on a triple to bring the squad within striking distance at 8-9.
The Bulldogs finished off the Tigers in the eighth with their second consecutive five-run inning, highlighted by senior Nate Carlson's (Portland, OR) two-RBI single up the middle for the final lead of the game.
UR's bullpen put in an impressive effort, going six strong innings while giving up only one run in the process. Junior reliever Brock Jacobo (Yuma, AZ) picked up his first victory of the 2011 campaign, tossing the final three frames while ringing up four Occidental batters.
The trio of freshman Casey Miller (Laguna Beach, CA), sophomore Paul Dippel (East Granby, CT) and junior Josh Snyder (Denver, CO) stepped in as well, throwing a scoreless fourth, fifth and sixth frame for the Maroon and Gray.
Overall, seven of the starting nine Bulldogs crossed the diamond and registered at least one hit.
Tucker posted a game-high four RBI on three hits, while Buscemi and junior second baseman Cameron Lowe (Olympia, WA) each collected a couple of knocks.
Redlands (23-8, 17-5 SCIAC) travels to Cal Lutheran University for Saturday's single contest against the Kingsmen, beginning at 1 p.m. in Thousand Oaks.
