REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Baseball team (6-3, 1-2 SCIAC) was unable to win their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opening series with California Lutheran University (CLU) Saturday at The Yard as they lost Game 1 4-1 and the series deciding Game 2 12-9.
Game 1 (L, 4-1)
Starting pitcher Joe Godoy put together another solid outing to begin the twin bill. The one inning he ran into trouble was the third when he allowed all four Kingsmen runs, which included a three-run double and an RBI-single before he earned a strikeout and flyout to end the threat.
An inning later the Bulldogs pulled one of the runs back as Nathan Miller (San Jose, CA) was hit-by-a-pitch with one out, Cade McClelland (Mission Viejo, CA) then advanced him to second on a single to right before Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA) plated Miller with a base hit to right center to make it 4-1.
The Bulldogs left a runner on in the eighth and ninth as they were unable to string together hits to test the CLU starter who threw a complete game.
Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA) and Jared Anderson (Gilbert, AZ) combined to go 3-for-8 at the top of the order with McClelland and Burgess adding three more hits from the bottom. Mason Chetcuti (San Jose, CA) got the start behind the plate and drew two walks. Godoy finished seven innings with four runs and seven strikeouts. Kyler Bacosa (San Jose, CA) threw two scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts.
Game 2 (L, 12-9)
After a very well-pitched game from the three pitchers in Game 1, neither team was able to hold the other offense down in Game 2. The Bulldogs jumped out in front in the first inning like they did on Friday with Miller bringing home Anderson on a sacrifice fly before Burgess singled up the middle scoring Tyler Preece (Seattle, WA) to make it 2-0.
After CLU scored an unearned run against starter Nathan Buchan (Mercer Island, WA) in the second, the UR offense scored four times to take a 6-1 lead in the bottom half of the inning. Will Cell (Seattle, WA) scored on a balk before De Vries scored Kaiya Saito (Bellevue, WA) on a single followed by Preece who brought around another two on a double.
CLU got a single run in the third and fourth innings before putting a crooked number on the board in the fifth as the game was tied at six.
Both offenses were scoreless in the sixth and after Miles Lu (San Jose, CA) held the Kingsmen without a run in the top of the seventh the Bulldog offense came through with another three runs.
Caesar Correa (Redlands, CA) had an infield single to second as Miller scored the lead run. Then on a wild pitch Burgess was able to make it home. Saito would get the third of the inning on a sacrifice fly to center as it was 9-6 Bulldogs after seven.
In the eighth Lu was able to get a pair of quick outs but then surrendered a double and two singles, single as CLU had the tying runners on base in a 9-7 game.
Bacosa would then come in relief and the first batter he would face singled to Anderson at shortstop loading the bases before a bases loaded walk and two-run single gave Cal Lutheran a 10-9 lead. After two more hits the Kingsmen led 12-9 heading into the bottom of the eighth.
Redlands went in order in the eighth, but in the ninth still trailing by three they got Burgess to second after he singled and Gabriel Ceja (Long Beach, CA) at first following his one-out walk. The Bulldogs would see their rally end as a flyout and fielder's choice ended the game.
Anderson, Preece, Miller, and Burgess all had two hits, while Jack Brown (San Diego, CA) was able to pitch a scoreless inning in the ninth.
Redlands will stay in SCIAC play next weekend as they take on No. 23 University of La Verne on the road on Friday, March 1 at 2:00 p.m. before hosting the Leos for a doubleheader starting at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday.
