The University of Redlands baseball squad continued its busy opening week of the 2015 campaign with a non-conference showdown against the Vanguard University Lions on Wednesday at the Yard. The Bulldogs used a five-run first inning to gather momentum en route to banging out 15 hits for a 9-5 victory over the Lions.
Freshman pitcher Felix Minjarez (Riverside, CA) climbed the mound for his inaugural Bulldog start and made the most of it by retiring the side in the first inning and recording two strikeouts in the process.
The Bulldogs' bats fired off immediately in the bottom of the frame, as freshman second basemen Christopher Scalisi (Woodland Hills, CA) and senior center-fielder Connor Hancock (Burbank, CA) uncorked back-to-back doubles to quickly grab a 1-0 lead for the Maroon and Gray.
Senior shortstop Jordan Dresner (Etiwanda, CA) joined the hitting action in a massive way by turning on an inside fastball and parking it over the left center-field wall for a two-run dinger to push the lead to 3-0.
Sophomore designated hitter Kyle Wallau (San Mateo, CA), senior left-fielder Christian Gurrola (Torrance, CA), and junior right-fielder Tyler Shreve (Redlands, CA) followed Dresner's homerun with three-straight singles. Two batters later, senior third baseman Mark Tumlinson (Anaheim, CA) put the exclamation point on the opening stanza with a bases-loaded single that knocked in two runs for a 5-0 advantage through the first inning.
Minjares continued to throw well in his Bulldog debut, working his way out of a jam in the top of the second inning to conserve the 5-0 Redlands' lead. He went on to throw 4.2 innings while fanning six batters and giving up only two runs.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, senior catcher Sean McMillan (Redwood City, CA) remained hot at the plate by unloading on a ball that sailed over the right-field wall for a two-run blast following a leadoff walk by Scalisi to expand the Bulldogs' lead to 7-2.
Freshman reliever Noah Jones (San Bernardino, CA) replaced Minjarez in the fourth frame and tossed a scoreless 2.1 innings with three strikeouts to keep the Vanguard offense off balance with a mixture of tempo and off-speed pitches.
In the bottom of the fifth, Tumlinson barreled up a two-out triple that located the right-center gap and then eventually came around to score on a balk to push the U of R lead to 8-2.
Gurrola continued to swing a mighty bat by recording an RBI-double, scoring freshman outfielder Nick Ono (Yorba Linda, CA), who led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to left field.
After a three-run rally by the Lions in the top of the ninth, freshman reliever Adam Stead (Rialto, CA) entered into the game to notch the final out, resulting in the Bulldogs' 9-5 victory.
Minjares (1-0) snagged his first collegiate win in his inaugural start for the Maroon and Gray. Scalisi finished the day with a 2-for3 showing while scoring two runs. McMillan and Dresner each recorded two RBI via homeruns, while Tumlinson went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
The Bulldogs (2-0) finish off their busy first week of action with Friday's tilt against St. Katherine College at 2:30 p.m. at the Yard.