REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Baseball team (18-10, 7-5 SCIAC) won both games of their home doubleheader with Caltech Saturday afternoon thanks to starters Erik Radder (San Diego, CA) and Nathan Buchan (Mercer Island, WA) throwing seven plus innings.
Game 1 (W, 6-0)
Radder along with Tanner Currier (Brawley, CA) and Brett Edwards (Santa Monica, CA) combined to shut out the Beavers in Game 1.
Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) got things going as he took advantage of a runner at third and less than two outs by pulling the ball on the ground to first, which allowed Mark Kirkland (Redlands, CA) to come home.
Following a stretch of three-straight scoreless innings, Gabriel Ceja (Long Beach, CA) scored on a passed ball giving UR a 2-0 lead. The second run of the inning came on another ground out as Jake Burgess (Riverside, CA) got the job done.
Additional runs came in the seventh and eighth innings when Ceja, Rylan Morris (Fullerton, CA), and Tyler Preece (Bellevue, WA) all had sacrifice flies. Each of the six Bulldog runs ended up coming from productive outs with a runner at third and less than two outs. A key aspect of the game included the Bulldogs only having three more hits than the Beavers.
Radder collects his third win after seven shutout innings. He struck out five and faced only four batters over the minimum. Currier threw a perfect eighth and Edwards worked around a hit and a walk to seal the win.
At the plate Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA), Morris, Kirkland, and Mason Chetcuti (Redwood City, CA) all reached base multiple times.
Game 2 (W, 9-2)
Kaiya Saito (Bellevue, WA) continued his hot hitting with an RBI-triple into right center that plated Will Cell (Bellevue, WA) in the second inning. Morris tacked on a second run in the third with his second home run of the season, a solo shot to right.
The lead remained at only two into the fifth. In the top half of that fifth inning, the Beavers had one run with the tying run at second. Buchan, though, got a ground out, pop up, and line out to center to maintain the lead, 2-1.
Redlands was able to remove some of the nerves as they put together a six-run sixth inning where De Vries drove in two with a double and Preece singled up the middle plating one ahead of Kirkland who homered to right.
The ninth and final run came in the next inning thanks to Nate Miller (San Jose, CA) who crushed a solo home run over the netting beyond the left center field wall.
Buchan moves to 7-0 after throwing 8.0 Innings and giving up two-runs. He scattered eight hits thanks to three double plays turned by the Redlands' defensive unit. Jack Brown (San Diego, CA) closed out the ninth on only 12 pitches.
Cell got the start in left and went 3-for-4. De Vries and Miller had two hits each, while Morris, Preece, Kirkland, and Saito added one hit apiece.
Redlands will have game one of a three-game series with No. 18 California Lutheran University this Friday, April 4 beginning at 3:00 p.m. at The Yard.
