ORANGE, Calif. – The University of Redlands Baseball team avoided the series sweep by Chapman University Saturday by splitting with the Panthers on the road dropping Game 1 6-0 before erasing a 6-2 deficit in Game 2 to win 8-7.
The Maroon and Grey have now won six of their last eight and improve to 12-9, 3-6 SCIAC. They now sit sixth within the conference standings.
Game 1 (L, 6-2)
After giving up a run in the bottom half of the first inning UR then saw Chapman put up another five runs across the 3rd, 4th, and 5th as they extended their lead to 6-0.
The Bulldogs did have an opportunity to put runs on the board in their opening at-bats. A trio of walks to Jonah Advincula (Santa Clara, CA), Matthew Brumbaugh (Chula Vista, CA), and Cade McClelland (Mission Viejo, CA) loaded the bases. But a Max Smyley (Sarasota, FL) groundout would end the threat.
One of the three Redlands hits came in the second inning off the bat of Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA) who doubled down the right field line. Max Clark (Fontana, CA) had the second hit in the fourth with a single up the middle and Payton Walsh (Santa Ana, CA) would collect the final hit with a base hit through the right side.
Advincula (two walks), Brumbaugh (three walks), and Smyley (two walks) were the only Bulldogs to reach base twice. For the game Redlands totaled eight walks and left ten runners on base. Cameron Kundig (Redlands, CA) got the start and went 4.0 Innings giving up four runs on five hits, while striking out two. He picked up the loss and drops to 4-2.
Game 2 (W, 8-7)
Redlands grabbed an early lead in the second game of the doubleheader thanks to a sacrifice fly in the 3rd Inning from Jared Anderson (Gilbert, AZ) and an infield single from Advincula that made it 2-1. That lead though, was short lived as Chapman would put up a five-run bottom of the inning in what seemed like an inevitable third straight defeat.
After that the Bulldogs started to chip away at the deficit and it all began in the fourth when first-year Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA) cleared the bases with a double down the third baseline, which plated Brumbaugh, De Vries, and Clark making it a one score game.
Chapman regained momentum in the bottom half of the fourth getting one of those runs back. But again the Bulldogs had an answer this time plating two runs in the fifth that tied the game up. Advinclua started the frame off with a triple to left center and scored thanks to a Brumbaugh fielder's choice. After a flyout that put two outs on the board De Vries kept the rally going with a clutch single to right field before stealing second that put two runners in scoring position. After a Clark walk that loaded the bases Burgess then stepped in and singled on the infield bringing across the game tying run and his fourth RBI on the day.
It took until the ninth inning for another run to come across and it came in the top half of the inning. With two outs and Advincula sitting on second base Brumbaugh earned his second RBI on the day with what would be the eventual game-winning hit through the left side. Then with that one-run lead Brumbaugh goes out and collects the save in the bottom half of the inning leaving two runners stranded as he would pick up a pair of strikeouts and induce a pop-up that allowed Redlands to come away with the split.
After being held to just one run across 20 innings to start the series, the Bulldogs scored six of the final seven runs. Redlands collected another seven hits and seven walks, while stranding only six runners.
Burgess finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and four runs batted in, Advincula was 2-for-3 scoring twice and Brumbaugh was 1-for-3 driving in a pair and scoring twice. Tyler Reiter (San Diego, CA) picked up the win going 4.0 Innings in relief giving up just three hits as he improves to 2-2. Brumbaugh grabs his first save of 2022 going the final frame giving up just one hit with two strikeouts.
Redlands remains within conference play next weekend, April 1-2 when they open up a three-game series with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. They travel Friday, April 1 to CMS (3:00pm) before hosting the Stags on Saturday, April 2 for a doubleheader (11am/2:30pm).