CLAREMONT, Calif. – The University of Redlands Baseball team (9-5, 3-1 SCIAC) restarted Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play with an 18-4 run-rule victory at No. 8 Pomona-Pitzer Friday afternoon.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first on a sacrifice fly from Tyler Preece (Bellevue, WA), a two-run home run by Mark Kirkland (Redlands, CA), and an RBI-single to center by Mason Chetcuti (Redwood City, CA).
In the second inning the Sagehens pulled one run back, but Nate Miller (San Jose, CA) matched that run with a solo shot to left in the bottom half. In the fourth Redlands locked up the win in hindsight as Preece, Kirkland, and Miller drove in Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA), Rylan Morris (Fullerton, CA), and Preece for an 8-1 lead.
At the time the lead looked in potential jeopardy when a three-run shot was hit by Pomona-Pitzer in the fifth. These three runs cut the lead to four, but that's as close as PP would get as Gavin Duenez (Redlands, CA) came in and got the final two outs to keep the inning from snowballing.
A 10-run sixth then put the Bulldogs in run rule position. The first four runs of the inning came on bases loaded walks. Then a fifth run came on a balk moving the score to 13-4.
The big hit of the inning came with the bases still loaded and Kirkland at the plate. He would hit a ball inside the right field line for a bases clearing double. Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) tacked on the 18th run with a double.
The two through six hitters of Morris, Preece, Kirkland, Umscheid, and Miller combined for 12 hits, 14 runs, 14 RBI's, and three walks. Kirkland had six of those RBI's, the eighth most in single-game program history.
In relief on the mound Duenez through 1.2 scoreless innings and Jack Brown (San Diego, CA) finished off the game with two strikeouts in a scoreless seventh. Joe Godoy got the start and went 4.1 Innings giving up four runs on three hits, while striking out three and walking seven. He improves to 2-2.
Redlands host Pomona-Pitzer for a doubleheader at The Yard tomorrow morning at 11 a.m.
