WHITTIER, Calif. – After scoring 18 runs in only six innings Friday afternoon, the University of Redlands Baseball team (12-16, 4-10) dropped a pair of games on the road Saturday against Whittier College plating only four runs across the twin bill. The Bulldogs were shutout in game one, 4-0, and then failed to hold an early 4-0 lead as they would fall 6-4.
Game 1 (L, 4-0)
The Bulldogs could never get anything strung together until the fifth, with the game still scoreless, when they had Gabriel Ceja (Long Beach, CA) at second and Kaiya Saito (Bellevue, WA) at first following a pair of singles. With a runner in scoring position for the first time, the inning ended with a fielder's choice groundout to end the threat.
The Poets scored the winning run on a two-run shot in the sixth as the Bulldogs found themselves down for the first time in 12 innings in the series.
In the seventh the Bulldogs left the tying runs on base as a pop out to second was induced to end their second scoring opportunity as the two hits in the inning were the final two of the game as they fell 4-0.
Of the seven hits for the Maroon and Grey, Jared Anderson (Gilbert, AZ), Ceja, and Saito had six, two apiece. For the third time all season the offense did not draw a walk as they lost for the first time in those games.
Despite the loss Nathan Buchan (Mercer Island, WA) threw seven innings on only 92 pitches while allowing two runs and striking out five.
Game 2 (L, 6-4)
After a 14-run second inning and an 18-run performance on Friday and then getting shutout in game one Saturday, the offense found some mojo in the top of the first in Game 2 with Anderson connnecting for a two-run shot to left field, his second of the year, making it 2-0 plating Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA) who singled to start the game.
Max Clark (Fontana, CA) kept the inning going with a single to left and Cade McClelland (Mission Viejo, CA) drew a walk before advancing to third on a pass ball. Following a strike out, Omar Barraza (San Mateo, CA) made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly to center. The fourth run of the inning came on a single from Ceja as Redlands would hold a 4-0 advantage after the first half inning.
Those four runs, though, were the only ones the offense would produce as the Poets slowly started to chip away, beginning with a solo home run in the bottom of the first.
Whittier got within one after scoring twice in the third. They then tied the game on a fielder's choice in the seventh. The game-winning run would come on a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth following a top half inning rally from the Bulldogs that saw a pair of runners stranded with the game still tied at four.
Redlands continued to battle in the ninth as Barraza walked to lead off the inning and Ceja was hit by a pitch putting the tying runs on the basepaths. Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA) came up and did his job with a sacrifice bunt that moved both runners into scoring positon, but that's where they would remain as the next two batters would get retired with a lineout to first and a flyout that ended the game.
De Vries was the lone player with multiple hits as he had a pair of singles, while Clark and Barraza each reached base safely twice. Jakob Russell (Fontana, CA) was the first pitcher in relief as he had a bounce back performance, throwing 4.1 innings, allowing only one run, and striking out four.
Redlands opens up a three-game series within SCIAC next weekend, April 14-15 when they take on Claremont-M-S. They travel to Claremont, CA on Friday for a single game at 3:00pm before hosting the Stags on Saturday at The Yard for a doubleheader.