A day after clinching at least a share of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship, the No. 19 University of Redlands baseball program faltered against No. 23 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in Sunday's game by a score of 2-5. The Bulldogs now enter the final stretch of the conference season needing only one victory to lock up sole possession of the SCIAC title.
Redlands faced an early deficit to Pomona-Pitzer, giving up three first-inning runs, and struggled to recover against senior Sagehen pitcher David Colvin (Mill Valley, CA).
Down by four runs, the Bulldogs made a valiant effort to jump back into the game by pushing across a pair of runs in the top of the seventh, but the Sagehens quickly answered with a run of their own in the next frame.
On the hill for UR, sophomore Kyle Hart (Burbank, CA), who was riding an eight-game winning streak, took the loss in Sunday's outing. The Bulldogs' No. 2 starter gave up five runs over 6.2 innings on 11 hits while ringing up just one hitter.
Junior reliever Brock Jacobo (Yuma, AZ) came out of the pen to finish out the game, tossing 1.1 innings without allowing a single Sagehen to reach base safely.
In the batters' box, Redlands struggled against Colvin, who owns a 6-0 career record when facing the Bulldogs, and scored the least number of runs in its last seven games.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs, the Maroon and Gray's Nos. 5 and 6 hitters, juniors designated hitter Trenton Lively (La Verne, CA) and first baseman Jon Cavender (Rancho Cucamonga, CA), went a combined 4-for-8, with Cavender scoring once and smacking a double.
Junior second baseman Cameron Lowe (Olympia, WA) filled out his stat line by collecting a hit, run and an RBI in the ball game.
As a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, freshman out fielder Max Hardman (Escondido, CA) registered an RBI for the Maroon and Gray.
Redlands (26-9, 20-6) competes in its final home conference game on Friday when it takes on the Poets of Whittier College at 3 p.m.
