REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Baseball team (3-1) edged LeTourneau University 5-3 Friday afternoon at The Yard as head coach Aaron Holley collected his 200th win with the Bulldogs. He is the fourth coach in program history to reach the 200-win milestone.
During the game things got off to a slow start in the first when the Yellow Jackets connected on a two-run shot to go in front. The Bulldogs, however, got those two runs back in the bottom half of the inning thanks to Tyler Preece (Bellevue, WA) who plated Jared Anderson (Gilbert, AZ) who tripled to right field in his at-bat followed by Gabriel Ceja (Long Beach, CA) who tied it with a single to left center bringing Preece around.
LeTourneau retook the lead in the fourth when the leadoff runner reached base on an error eventually coming around to score when the next two hitters singled and doubled moving the score to 3-2.
In the bottom of the seventh Redlands found themselves with two outs on the board and nobody on before leadoff batter Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA) would double down the left field line getting into scoring position. Following an Anderson infield single to short, De Vries would come home from third on a pass ball to tie the game at three.
An inning later after Bulldog starter Tyler Reiter (San Diego, CA) shutdown the Yellow Jackets with a one-two-three frame, Nathan Miller (San Jose, CA) led off the eighth with a solo home run to left field for the eventual game-winning run. Two batters later Cade McClelland (Mission Viejo, CA) went deep this time off the scoreboard netting in right field to give the pitching staff some breathing room, 5-3, heading into the ninth.
Jakob Russell (Fontana, CA) came on in relief of Reiter in the ninth and started things off with a strikeout. He then recorded the second out when he caught an attempted bunt down the first base line in a full layout. The final out of the game came on a flyout to center as he secured his second save on the season.
Reiter earned his second win of the season tossing 8.0 Innings giving up three runs (one earned) with eight strikeouts and scattering five hits. Five of the nine Bulldog hits came from Anderson and Ceja.
For Holley this is his 11th season with Redlands and in five of them he has won at least 20 games as he looks to lead the Bulldogs into the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Tournament for the sixth time and the NCAA Tournament for the second.
Redlands will host LeTourneau for a doubleheader tomorrow, Saturday, February 17 at The Yard with first pitch of game one set for 11:00 a.m. as the Bulldogs will look for at least a split to win their second series in as many opportunities to begin 2024.
