REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Baseball team (7-4, 2-4 SCIAC) dropped their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) doubleheader with the No. 21 ranked Leopards of the University of La Verne 7-2 (Game 1) and 17-10 (Game 2).
Game 1 (L, 7-2)
The Bulldogs got out in front early thanks to Nathan Miller (San Jose, CA) who homered to left field putting UR on top 2-0 plating Jared Anderson (Gilbert, AZ) who reached prior on a base hit.
In the second the Maroon and Grey had Will Cell (Seattle, WA) at third and Mason Chetcuti (Redwood City, CA) at second, after they walked and singled and then advanced on a wild pitch, but the Bulldogs were unable to bring them home as the game stayed tied at two.
Trailing 3-2 in the fourth Redlands earned another couple baserunners with Caesar Correra (Redlands, CA) and Cell being left stranded after walking and singling.
After allowing four more runs Redlands went into the ninth down five. After a strikeout began the inning Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA) would get the offense going again with a double to right center.
The Leopards then recorded their second out before Chetcuti walked putting two runners on. Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA) was able to extend the inning reaching on a fielding error at second as the Bulldogs brought the tying run to the plate. Anderson would end up flying out to right as the Leopards would tie the series up.
Joe Godoy (Commerce, CA) started and went 7.1 innings giving up six runs, four earned to go with seven strikeouts. Jack Brown (San Diego, CA) was able to shut down the Leopards in the ninth on only three pitches.
Game 2 (L, 17-10)
Of the 27 runs 24 of them came in the first five innings. Redlands would lead after one inning 3-2 after Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) reached on a fielder's choice picking up an RBI with the game being tied at two thanks to a throwing error that allowed Anderson to score the second run. Correra made it 3-2 with a single to left center.
After La Verne scored six in the top of the second the Bulldogs scored three to pull within two, 8-6.
Heading into the bottom of the fifth the Bulldogs were down six, 12-6, following two Leopards runs in each of the third and fourth innings. Umscheid would add a second RBI to his day as he brought in Tyler Preece (Bellevue, CA) on a sacrifice fly in the fourth. Burgess then got run number two of the inning on a single down the right field line.
La Verne responded to the runs with three more in the third as the deficit was seven, 15-9. In the bottom half of the fifth with no one on and two outs Anderson doubled to right center in front of Preece who brought him in with a double of his own.
The offense would slow down as both pitching staffs held each other without a run in the sixth through eighth innings. In the ninth Will Daniels (Crestline, CA) hit a pinch hit single through the right side as Burgess scored for Redlands' tenth and final run.
Burgess finished with a career-high four hits as the Bulldogs recorded 11 base knocks, walked six times, along with Preece getting hit by a pitch twice.
Brown continued his strong day as he added three shutout innings in relief.
Redlands will host Vanguard University on Tuesday, March 5 at 2:00 p.m. for a non-conference game before hosting Pomona-Pitzer on Friday at 2:00 p.m. opening up a three game-series with the Sagehens.
