The No. 24 University of Redlands baseball team rewrote its program record book on Saturday afternoon at The Yard in Redlands, downing Caltech by a 34-4 final in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action.
The Bulldogs' 34-run total tied the program record for the most in a single game. The 1982 edition of Redlands baseball also posted 34 runs when the team squared off with LA Baptist College on Feb. 23, 1982.
On the season, Redlands has scored 392 runs, which surpasses the single-season program record of 372 set by the 1997 Bulldog baseball team. The Maroon and Gray also extended its single-season doubles record (125) and now owns the single-season record in RBI (349). Both of those former standards were held by the 1997 Bulldogs.
Individually, junior rightfielder Nate Carlson (Portland, OR) sits just two RBI away from tying the single-season program record. Derek Bell and Jim Reinhardt drove in 53 runs in 1998 and 1981, respectively. Junior pitcher Derek Johnson (Canby, OR) needs just one more win to tie Nolan Nicholson's single-season program standard of 12, which he set in 2008.
After a slow start, Redlands poured on the offense and buried the Beavers, spraying hits in every gap.
Caltech scored first, plating one run in the second to take a 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs, however, responded with a six-run second and never looked back. The Redlands attack would go on to score two in the third, 11 in the fourth and seven in the fifth before the Beavers tacked on three more in the top of the sixth to bring the tally to 26-4. The Bulldogs then countered with an eight-run effort in the bottom half of the inning to spell out the final score of 34-4.
Junior pitcher Derek Johnson (Canby, OR) worked four innings on the hill for the Maroon and Gray, yielding one run on six hits while striking out three. D. Johnson moved to 11-2 on the year with the win. Five different Redlands hurlers came out of the bullpen and kept the Caltech order in check.
Mike Gherini sustained the loss for the Beavers. He gave up 19 runs, 17 of which were earned, on 16 hits over four frames of duty.
Several Redlands batters had outstanding afternoons at the dish. Nine different players had multi-hit efforts, with freshman centerfielder Ryan Buscemi (Tiburon, CA) leading the way with a 5-for-5 performance. Buscemi crossed the plate four times and drove in two runs. Graduate student pinch hitter/first baseman Matt Hughes (Westminster, CA) had a career-high six RBI, while sophomore second baseman Cameron Lowe (Olympia, WA) smacked three doubles in a 4-for-6 outing that included four runs scored and four RBI.
In total, the Bulldog bats combined for 17 extra-base hits—nine doubles, six triples and two home runs.
Daniel Sexton paced the Caltech attack, going 2-for-3 with one run scored and three RBI. Both of his base knocks were doubles.
Redlands (28-9, 20-8 SCIAC) has just three games left on the regular-season docket, but the trio of contests are against No. 6 Chapman University. The Bulldogs play their final home game at The Yard on Friday (May 7) at 3 p.m. and will celebrate their seniors in a ceremony prior to the first pitch. The series then moves to Orange on Saturday (May 8) for a non-conference doubleheader.