REDLANDS, Calif. – After having their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) series with Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) postponed due to rain, the University of Redlands Baseball team (5-3, 1-1) got their doubleheader in on Sunday splitting the two games with the Sagehens, 4-1 and 3-4.
Game 1 (W, 4-1)
Tyler Reiter (San Diego, CA) gave the Bulldogs six shutout innings as he allowed the offense time to wake up and get going. In the second inning the Sagehens loaded the bases with no outs before Reiter struck out the next two batters and enduced a flyout from the third to escape the jam and keep the game scoreless.
Redlands was able to break the game open in the fourth with a two-run single to center from Jared Anderson (Gilbert, AZ), which drove in Esteban Nakashima (Riverside, CA) and Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA).
De Vries then extended the lead to 3-0 with a single to left center that scored Omar Barraza (San Mateo, CA) who led off the inning with a double to left center. Following a Sagehen home run that cut the deficit to two, Barraza picked up an RBI with a single through the left side in the eighth, which added insurance.
Jakob Russell (Fontana, CA) picked up the nine-out save as he and Reiter combined for seven strikeouts with only two walks.
Nakashima and Barraza each finished with two hits and De Vries and Sebastian Mejorado (Oceanside, CA) also reached base twice with one hit and a walk apiece.
Game 2 (L, 4-3)
Nathan Buchan (Mercer Island, WA) started game two for the Maroon and Grey and was fantastic for the Bulldogs. The Sagehens striked first with a RBI-single in the second. But this lead was short-lived as Cade McClelland (Mission Viejo, CA) drove in Max Clark (Fontana, CA) for the game-tying run in the Bulldogs opening at-bats.
That same inning Kaiya Saito (Bellevue, WA) helped the Bulldogs get out in front when he beat out a double play ball that resulted in Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) coming in to make it 2-1.
In the third, Pomona-Pitzer tied the game at two on an unearned run after an errant throw on an attempted double play went wide allowing the runner, who had advanced from second to third on the play, to take the extra base and score.
After the next three innings went scoreless, Anderson would put UR back on top scoring on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth in what looked like the game-winning run. The Sagehens, though, would tie the game up on a wild pitch in the top half of the ninth. With the same batter at the plate following the wild pitch, he would homer to right field to give P-P the lead, 4-3, a lead they would hold onto as the Bulldogs and Sagehens would split the doubleheader.
Umscheid went three-for-three with an intentional walk and a run scored. Buchan started and went seven innings with only one earned run, no walks, and five strikeouts. Nate Helton (Menifee, CA) was charged with the loss dropping him to 0-2 on the season after he went 1.1 Innings giving up two runs on two hits.
Redlands is scheduled to finish the series with a single game tomorrow, February 27 with first pitch at 2:00 p.m. Due to potential inclement weather in the area, check the schedule for any updates.