REDLANDS, Calif. – In a bullpen game against Providence Christian College (PCC) Tuesday afternoon at The Yard, the University of Redlands Baseball team (6-3, 2-1 SCIAC) was not able to hold onto their four-run lead as they would fall 13-10.
Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) earned the start behind the plate and got the scoring started in the first when he singled home Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA) giving UR and early 1-0 advantage.
Following a game-tying RBI-double from the Sea Beggars in the second, Mark Kirkland (Redlands, CA) laced a ball into center field for two RBI's moving the lead to 3-1. Sebastian Mejorado (Oceanside, CA) and De Vries both came around to score.
Mejorado then hit his own two-run single in the third as he kept the ball inside the foul line in left field allowing Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA) and Nate Miller (San Jose, CA) to score pushing the lead to 5-1.
PCC would slowly get back into the game, scoring once in the fourth and then in the fifth pulling within two, 5-3. De Vries, though, got a run back on a single to right that scored Mejorado for a three-run lead, 6-3.
In the sixth inning the Bulldogs struggled to get outs on the board as the first six Sea Beggars reached, tying things up at 6-6. Aziz Bishop (Baltimore, MD) would eventually get the Bulldogs out of the game, but PCC held a 10-6 lead.
After failing to respond offensively in the bottom half of the sixth, Mejorado and CJ Brown (El Cajon, CA) singled and doubled with one out in the seventh. De Vries then singled home Mejorado to get UR within three, 10-7. Two batters later Redlands' three-hole hitter Kirkland once again came through with two outs as he looped a ball into left field to score two more runs as Redlands trailed by only one, 10-9, after seven innings.
After conceding an 11th run, Burgess brought home pinch hitter Will Cell (Seattle, WA) on a sacrifice fly. That sacrifice fly, though, was the final run of the game as Redlands was retired in order in the ninth.
De Vries reached base four times, scored three times, and drove in two. Kirkland had three hits and four RBI's and Umscheid and Mejorado also had multi-hit days.
Redlands begins a four-game series with Whitworth University this Friday, February 21 at The Yard with first pitch set for 2:00 p.m.
