AZUSA, Calif. – The University of Redlands Baseball team (12-19, 4-13 SCIAC) played Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) to a second one-run game of the series Sunday afternoon but lost 7-6 after scoring three runs in the eighth and ninth innings.
Max Clark (Fontana, CA) got the Bulldogs off on the right foot in the first inning as he made it 1-0 thanks to his sixth home run of the season.
The Stags were held scoreless in their opening at-bats by starter Nathaniel Helton (Menifee, CA), but in the second they scored four runs, two unearned, to take a 4-1 lead.
Each team's pitching was able to make it through the third and fourth innings without allowing a run. But in the fifth the Bulldogs pulled within one, 4-3, thanks to an error by the Stag catcher for the first run of the inning. The second run came off a sacrifice fly from Patrick Perez (Ontario, CA) who drove in Clark, who walked earlier in the inning, for the third run of the game.
The eventual game-winning hit for CMS came in the seventh when they hit a two-out, three-run shot after there was only one runner on base and two outs as they picked up a pair of two-out hits to extend the frame.
Redland, though, did not go away with only out six outs left and a four-run deficit. In the eighth Perez and Gabriel Ceja (Long Beach, CA) opened the inning with a couple of singles. Then on a fielding error at second, Perez was able to come around from second to score.
Luke Hanson (Escondido, CA) would pinch hit and draw a walk that forced a pitching change for the Stags. The first batter he faced hit a sacrifice fly to right field plating Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA) as the deficit was now two, 7-5.
The Bulldogs avoided allowing any more Stag runs after conceding a leadoff double in the bottom of the eighth. Then in the ninth UR put the first two batters on base following a throwing error at shortstop and a single from Will Daniels (Crestline, CA), which put the tying runs on the corners.
Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) came up as a pinch hitter and Kaiya Saito (Bellevue, WA) was brought in to pinch run at first as the potential tying run. Umscheid would draw a walk and become the lead run with the bases now loaded for Perez. Perez got one of the two necessary runs on a sacrifice fly, as Clark came in to score. But the next two batters would line out to center and ground out to the pitcher as the game ended in a one run margin.
The offense scored six times for the Bulldogs but only one was earned as the Stags' defense committed four errors. Redlands drew seven walks, had nine strikeouts and had six hits stranded, which left 11 Bulldogs on base. Clark was 1-for-3 scoring three times and driving in another, Perez was 1-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI's and Jared Anderson (Gilbert, AZ) was 1-for-4 with a run scored.
Joe Godoy (Commerce, CA) was one of two pitchers hwo had a solid day on the mound throwing 2.2 scoreless frames with three strikeouts in the middle innings, while Julian Zuniga (San Diego, CA) ended the game with 1.1 shutout innings. Helton was charged with his fifth loss on the season after he went 2.1 Innings giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits.
The Bulldogs will be off next weekend due to commencement, so their next game will be on Friday, April 28 at 3:00 p.m. inside The Yard when they host Occidental College for the start of a three-game series.