TUCSON, Ariz. – The University of Redlands Baseball team moved to 3-0 at the Tucson Cactus Classic Saturday thanks to a 10-9 win in extras over Hamline University and then a 5-0 shutout victory against Luther College behind another great start from Tyler Reiter (San Diego, CA).
Game 1 (Hamline; W, 10-9 | 10-innings)
The Bulldogs were down early 2-0 before coming back to take a 3-2 lead in the top half of the third. All three runs came off the bat of Max Clark (Fontana, CA) who drove in Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) and Jared Anderson (Gilbert, AZ) on a three-run shot.
After Hamline tied the game at three, the Bulldogs brought across another two runs capitalizing on an error followed by an Anderson singled, which plated Gabriel Ceja (Long Beach, CA) for a 5-3 lead in the fourth.
Then in the fifth Cade McClelland (Mission Viejo, CA) made it 6-3 as his groundout to second base allowed Clark to score from third, who reached earlier on a triple.
The Pipers reclaimed the lead with a five-run bottom of the fifth as they took advantage of two extra base hits. After a scoreless sixth McClelland and Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA) got the Bulldogs on level ground in the seventh with a base hit and a fielder's choice that brought in a pair. Trailing by one in the eighth Kaiya Saito (Bellevue, WA) came up clutch for the Bulldogs tying things up again with a two out base bringing in Will Cell (Seattle, WA) to make it 9-9. The winning run came home in the 10th for the Maroon and Grey. Cell started the frame off with a walk before stealing second and then advancing to third on a throwing error by the third baseman. Due to that miscue Cell was able to come in and score, would proved to be the game-winner.
Anderson went 3-for-6 with two RBI's, Clark was 3-for-5 with three RBI's, and Sebastian Mejorado (Oceanside, CA) collected a pair of hits as well. Jakob Russell (Fontana, CA) came on in relief and threw six innings, striking out seven and holding the Pipers to only two runs after they scored seven times in the first four innings. Russell picks up the win as he improves to 1-0.
Game 2 (Luther; W, 5-0)
It was a pitcher's dual through six innings in the second game on the day as Reiter and the Norse starter each had shutouts going with both teams combining for only five hits.
Things changed in the seventh when Esteban Nakashima (Riverside, CA) came up with a clutch two-out hit as he doubled in McClelland and Clark to put the Bulldogs on top 2-0.
Umscheid and McClelland helped put the game away in the eighth with a two-run single from Umscheid that scored Anderson and Nathan Buchan (Mercer Island, WA) and then McClelland brought in Umscheid on a sacrifice fly for the final run of the game.
Reiter went the distance, allowing only four hits, walking two while striking out 11. He remains perfect on the year at 4-0. On the offensive side Clark had two hits and Umscheid, and Nakashima each had two RBI's.
The Bulldogs end their trip in Arizona with a single game on Sunday, March 19 when they take on Saint John's University (Minn.) with first pitch set for 12:30 p.m.