The No. 10/12 University of Redlands baseball team is set to host No. 21 Chapman University on Friday, May 4, for the opening game of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Tournament. Redlands owns a share of the SCIAC regular-season title with the Leopards of the University of La Verne. Due to the head-to-head outcome, La Verne (19-5) has been named the No. 1 seed in the tournament while the Bulldogs snagged the No. 2 seed, also with a conference record of 19-5. Chapman University (15-9) gained the No. 3 spot and Pomona-Pitzer (12-12) completes the tournament field as the No. 4 seed.
The Maroon and Gray looks forward to competing in its fifth SCIAC Postseason Tournament in six years. This is Head Coach Aaron Holley's fourth-straight trip to the event, but the first as co-SCIAC Champs.
Redlands holds a 2-1 regular season record over Chapman when it opened SCIAC play against the Panthers back in February. The Bulldogs won the first game at home by a 10-4 margin. They fell in game two at Chapman but prevailed victorious during the rubber match in a one-run, 4-3 victory.
Senior catcher Rainier Aguilar (San Bernardino, CA) and junior first baseman Brendan Moore (Murrieta, CA) were dialed-in in game one, as they both went 3-for-5 with two RBI each.
Overall, senior pitcher Adam Stead (Rialto, CA) currently leads the SCIAC with an extremely low ERA of 1.47 over 73.2 innings pitched. However, Chapman's Matt Mogollon follows close behind with a 1.54 ERA. Both evenly matched, Stead owns an 8-0 record while Mogollon tallies an 8-2 mark. Mogollon also leads the conference with 86 strikeouts.
Senior third baseman Brendan Gardiner (Mission Viejo, CA) paces the Bulldog offense and ranks second in SCIAC with a batting average of .401 off of 152 at-bats. He also leads the team with 51 runs scored, a .556 on-base percentage, and .643 slugging percentage. Chapman's Gavin Blodgett ranks second in SCIAC with 40 RBI, right above Gardiner who owns 39.
As a team, the Panthers have taken the top spot in the conference with 34 home runs this season with Tristan Kevitch responsible for seven of them. Kevitch also leads the Panthers with 58 hits, 41 runs, 12 doubles, a .389 batting average, and a .638 slugging percentage. The Bulldogs as a whole lead the conference with 332 runs scored.
Following Friday's action, the remainder of the tournament takes place at La Verne on Saturday, May 5, and Sunday, May 6. Due to the double-elimination format, all teams advance to the second site on Saturday.
Redlands and La Verne will be charging $10 for general admission and $5 for those 55 and older and any military personnel with ID. SCIAC students and employees, and children under 12 will be admitted for free.
Live stats and streaming will be available for free on the SCIAC portal or through GoRedlands.com on Friday and La Verne's athletics homepage on Saturday and Sunday.
Friday, May 4, at higher seed
Game 1: No. 4 Pomona-Pitzer at No. 1 La Verne @ 3 p.m.
Game 2: No. 3 Chapman at No. 2 Redlands @ 3 p.m.
Saturday, May 5, at La Verne (La Verne, CA)
Game 3: loser Game 1 v. loser Game 2 @ 8:30 a.m.
Game 4: winner Game 1 v. winner Game 2 @ 11:30 a.m.
Game 5: winner Game 3 v. loser Game 4 @ 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 6, at La Verne (La Verne, CA)
Game 6: Championship game—winner Game 4 v. winner Game 5 @ 11 a.m.
Game 7: If necessary, 30 minutes after completion of Game 6