ORANGE, Calif. – The University of Redlands Baseball team (14-13, 6-9 SCIAC) won Game 1 of their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) doubleheader at Chapman University 8-3 as they secured the series win over the Panthers for the first time since 2021. In Game 2 they were shutout 10-0 in seven innings.
Game 1 (W, 8-3)
The Bulldogs wasted no time getting on the board as Jared Anderson (Gilbert, AZ) singled up the middle with one out in the first ahead of Tyler Preece (Bellevue, WA) who homered to left for an early 2-0 U of R lead.
Much like game one of the series Thursday, Chapman would make a comeback as they scored the next three runs to go in front 3-2 after two innings.
In the next half inning, though, Sebastian Mejorado (Oceanside, CA) would porch one to left, a two-run shot that scored Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA) who walked to lead off the inning.
The Bulldogs' fifth and sixth runs came in the sixth and seventh innings as Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA) hit a sacrifice fly to right that allowed Preece to tag up and score. In the seventh Preece helped out as he lined out to right plating De Vries for a 6-3 lead.
Preece added his fourth and fifth RBI's of the afternoon in the ninth as he singled to left scoring De Vries and Will Cell (Seattle, WA). Patrick Perez (Ontario, CA) then came on in the bottom half and pitched a one-two-three ninth to secure the Bulldog win.
De Vries walked twice and scored three times, Preece and Mejorado each added three hits with Preece scoring twice and Mejorado adding two RBI's. Gabriel Ceja (Long Beach, CA) was the fourth Bulldog with two plus hits as he finished 2-for-4.
Miles Lu (San Jose, CA) was the first reliever in and went a career-high 5.1 innings with no runs allowed, one walk, and tied his career-high of six strikeouts as he got his second win on the season. Jakob Russell (Fontana, CA) bounced back from Thursday with 1.1 scoreless innings.
Game 2 (L, 10-0 | 7-Innings)
The Bulldogs recorded their first hit of the game on their second at bat as Anderson singled up the middle, that hit, however, was the first and last as they were shutout across seven innings.
Redlands' best scoring chance came in the fourth trailing 3-0 as De Vries and Preece walked, which put two on with one out. Chapman's starter would get out of the jam with a strikeout and fielder's choice.
There were only two more baserunners for the Bulldogs the rest of the game, both reaching on walks, but in both innings the next batter would hit into a double play as the Panthers' starter only faced two over the minimum.
Redlands will look to take the momentum from this series win into their three-game set with Whittier College next weekend as they travel to the Poets on Friday, April 5 with game time set for 3:00 p.m. before hosting them for a doubleheader at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, April 6.
