REDLANDS, Calif. – Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA) came through with the walk-off hit in the ninth inning Wednesday afternoon as the University of Redlands Baseball team (15-7) ended non-conference play with a 7-6 win at The Yard against Middlebury University.
Following a run by the Panthers in the top half of the second, Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) would spark the offense for the U of R with a double to right field before advancing to third on a wild pitch and then advancing home on another wild pitch that tied the game. That same inning Gabriel Ceja (Long Beach, CA) would plate Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA) with a single to left field and Rylan Morris (Fullerton, CA) would hit a sacrifice fly to left giving UR a 3-1 lead.
Middlebury, though, came back with a pair of runs in the fourth as the game was tied once again. Much like the second inning, Redlands responded in their at-bats with the first four batters reaching.
CJ Brown (San Diego, CA) doubled down the right field line ahead of De Vries who tripled down the first base line. Following a walk to Morris, Mark Kirkland (Redlands, CA) made it 5-3 with an RBI-single through the left side. Umscheid made it a three-run inning with a sacrifice fly pushing the lead to 6-3 after four innings.
The Panthers tied the game at six in the top half of the sixth thanks to a fielder's choice RBI, an RBI-single up the middle, and a wild pitch.
Aziz Bishop (Baltimore, MD) came in to begin the ninth and finished off the inning with a pair of strike outs. In the bottom half Ceja started the rally with a one out single to left field. Luke Hanson (Escondido, CA) came in as a pinch runner and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Will Cell (Seattle, WA) then walked before a strikeout brought De Vries to the plate with two outs.
De Vries would line a ball past the diving shortstop and Hanson would come around to score the game-winning run giving UR the walk-off 7-6 victory.
The top four in the lineup of De Vries, Morris, Kirkland, and Umscheid combined for nine hits, two runs scored, five RBI's, three walks, and a stolen base.
On the mound Gavin Duenez (Redlands, CA) threw a scoreless fifth with two strikeouts. Kethan Efron (Henderson, NV) had 1.2 scoreless innings on only 22 pitches. John Hernandez (Fontana, CA) got through the Panther hitters on just 16 pitches in the eighth before Bishop set up the walk off as he won his first collegiate game.
The Bulldogs resume Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play this Friday, March 21 as they host No. 12 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 3:00 p.m. at The Yard.
