TUCSON, Ariz. – The University of Redlands Baseball team (7-9, 3-5) opened the four-game Tucson Cactus Classic in Arizona with a 15-5 win over Macalester College Friday afternoon.
The Bulldogs got off to a quick start as the designated visiting team, scoring four runs on five hits in the top of the first. Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA) got the inning started with a double to center and then stole third before coming in on a Jared Anderson (Gilbert, AZ) single up the middle. After an Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) walk and a bunt single on the infield from Max Clark (Fontana, CA) that put two runners in scoring position Cade McClelland (Mission Viejo, CA) stepped in and drove in the second run with a single down the right field line. Esteban Nakashima (Riverside, CA) followed with a sacrifice fly plating the third run and Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA) would drive in Clark with a base knock to center.
A three-run double in the bottom half of the first for the Scots made it a one-run game. The Bulldogs and Scots traded a run in the third before Redlands scored ten unanswered in the fourth through the top of the seventh inning as they secured the run-rule victory.
Redlands' second big inning came in the fourth when they scored five times thanks to an RBI triple from De Vries, an RBI-double from Anderson, and then RBI's base hits from Umscheid, McClelland, and Nakashima to extend the lead to six, 10-4.
The Bulldogs put the game away in the seventh when Will Cell (Seattle, WA) tripled home Kaiya Saito (Bellevue, WA) followed by a De Vries single that brought in Cell and Anderson who finished things off with a two-run shot.
The 15 runs scored came on 21 hits, ten of which went for extra bases. They also only struck out four times and walked twice. On the mound first-year Kethan Efron (Henderson, NV) started and got his first collegiate win after throwing five innings with five strikeouts. Alec Aguayo (Riverside, CA) threw the final two innings in relief.
Redlands plays a doubleheader on Saturday, March 18 in Day 2 action of the Tucson Cactus Classic with games against Hamline (9:00am) and Luther (12:30pm).