REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Baseball team (12-18, 4-12 SCIAC) lost both games of their doubleheader with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Saturday afternoon. In game one they broke up a no-hitter in the eighth and scored three times to tie the game, but the Stags won it in the ninth, 4-3. Then in game two the Bulldogs' early lead was not enough as they they would fall 10-3.
Game 1 (L, 4-3)
The Bulldogs were held hitless and trailed 3-0 heading into the bottom half of the eighth. Thats when the Bulldogs mounted a comeback with Omar Barraza (San Mateo, CA) singling up the middle for the first hit of the day. The next two batters, Gabriel Ceja (Long Beach, CA) and Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA), also followed with base hits loading the bases and no outs.
Will Cell (Seattle, WA) then came up and singled through the 3-4 hole for a pair of RBI's as the lead was cut to one, 3-2. Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA) gave himself up as he bunted over Burgess and Cell. Then with no traditional double play available, Jared Anderson (Gilbert, AZ) tied the game with a base hit through the right side as Burgess scored to tie the game at three. After a Max Clark (Fontana, CA) walk, the Stags turned a potential game-winning sacrifice fly to left into an inning ending double play as Cell was thrown out at home.
In the ninth the Stags scored the game-winning run on an RBI-single with two outs. The Bulldogs put a runner on thanks to a dropped fly ball in left with one out, but the next two batters each flew out to end the game.
Barraza was the lone hitter that reached base twice as he singled and walked. Tyler Reiter (San Diego, CA) picked up the no decision as he threw seven innings allowing only two earned runs.
Game 2 (L, 10-3)
Redlands got off to a better offensive start in game two as they brought in a run in the second and third innings to go in front 2-0 a third of the way through the game.
The second the inning started with singles into right field and the right side from Sebastian Mejorado (Oceanside, CA) and Ceja. After Kaiya Saito (Bellevue, WA) was able to execute the sacrifice bunt to put both runners in scoring position, Burgess came through with an RBI-ground out to second to make it 1-0.
The second run, in the third, came as Cade McClelland (Mission Viejo, CA) singled home Anderson who had a one-out base hit and advanced into scoring position on an error.
Redlands had a great chance to score for the third consecutive inning in the fourth putting a pair of runners on with only one out, but a strikeout and fielder's choice would end the threat.
CMS got a run back on a single in the sixth and then put four on the board in the seventh as they had a pair of run-scoring singles and a two-run double. They would put the game away in the eighth as they scored five times. The final three runs came on an RBI-triple to left that Sean McCance (Irvine, CA) appeared to have caught, but the second base umpire ruled that he did not have possession of the ball when he hit the wall and when the ball came out of his glove it was a live ball, which allowed the runners to score with two outs.
The Bulldogs scored a late consolation run thanks to a De Vries sacrifice fly to left that scored Burgess for the final run of the game.
Anderson, McClelland, and Ceja all had two hits as the offense posted nine hits. The storyline were the ten strikeouts collected by UR and the eight runners left stranded.
After a few rough appearances for the first three pitchers, Julian Zuniga (San Diego, CA) threw a scoreless ninth with a strikeout to finish off the game.
Redlands will play the third and final game of the series against the Stags tomorrow, Sunday, April 16 beginning at noon on the campus of Azusa Pacific University.
