REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Baseball team overcame a 3-0 deficit Friday afternoon against the California Lutheran University Kingsmen winning 7-5 at The Yard as they move within a half-game of fourth place within the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings.
The Bulldogs (20-13, 10-8) fell behind in the opening two innings after the Kingsmen took a 3-0 lead with the opening run being unearned after an error.
Jared Anderson (Gilbert, AZ) got the Bulldogs started with an RBI single to center field that scored Payton Walsh (Santa Ana, CA) in the bottom of the third. Mark Kirkland (Redlands, CA) followed up with an RBI single to left and then Matthew Brumbaugh (Chula Vista, CA) tied the game at three with a single that hit the third-base bag and went down the line for a single to drive in Anderson. Max Clark (Fontana, CA) gave the Bulldogs the lead with a sacrifice fly to left field to complete the four-run third.
The lead was short lived for Redlands as CLU got their fourth run and tied the game in the top half of the fourth inning. The Bulldogs, though, did not wait around as in the bottom of the inning Max Smyley (Sarasota, FL) singled up the middle with the infield drawn in and scored Walsh with what would become the game winning run.
In the fifth Clark got his second RBI with another sacrifice fly as the Bulldogs scored six runs in three innings to take a 6-4 lead. The Kingsmen made it a one-run game with a fielder's choice RBI that made it 6-5 in the sixth, but that would be the final run allowed and Clark added an insurance run with a two-out, RBI double in the seventh for the 7-5 win.
Jonah Advincula (Santa Clara, CA) went 2-for-5 with a run as the leadoff hitter. The first five hitters combined for nine of their 14 hits and six of their seven RBIs. Anderson (2-for-5, two runs, one RBI), Kirkland (3-for-4, two runs, one RBI), and Walsh (3-for-3 with two runs) all had multiple hits for the Bulldogs who only struck out four times.
Andrew Rueter (San Diego, CA) came on in relief of starter James Boone (Sammamish, WA) and threw four, one-run innings with three strikeouts as he picked up his second win of the season. Brumbaugh came in and pitched the ninth and struck out two Kingsmen as he notched his second save of the year.
Redlands will play a doubleheader against the Kingsmen in Thousand Oaks, CA, tomorrow, Saturday, April 30 with first pitches set for 11:00am and 2:30pm.