THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The University of Redlands (19-12, 8-7 SCIAC) made another ninth inning come back in Game 1, but fell in 10-Innings, 8-7, before overcoming a late California Lutheran University (CLU) rally in a 10-9 Game 2 victory.
Game 1 (L, 8-7) | 10-Innings
The Bulldogs scored first on a Mark Kirkland (Redlands, CA) double down the left field line that brought around Luke De Vries (Irvine, CA).
CLU then scored six times in the fourth inning. Will Cell (Seattle, WA) got a run back in the sixth when he singled to the shortstop plating Tyler Preece (Bellevue, WA).
Heading into the ninth the Bulldogs trailed by four, 6-2. Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) pinch hit and doubled down the right field line. De Vries walked and Preece was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out.
Kirkland got a free RBI on a bases loaded walk before Cell singled to left. Head Coach Aaron Holley held De Vries at third as pinch runner Luke Hanson (Escondido, CA) scored to make it 6-4.
With the bases still loaded pinch hitter Sean McCance (Irvine, CA) was hit by a pitch to make it a one-run game. Nate Miller (San Jose, CA) then tied it with an infield single to third. The Kingsmen though, much like Friday, put the fire out with the bases loaded and less than two outs as they kept the game tied.
In the 10th Cell singled home De Vries, who led off the inning with a single, after Kirkland was intentionally walked.
CLU came back though in the bottom half of the 10th to win it on a potential double play ground ball that was beat out at first to allow the tying run to score. The winning run came home on the play as the turn throw at second was wide of first.
Cell went 4-for-6 with three RBI's as the five-hole hitter. De Vries went 3-for-5 with a walk, Kirkland had a hit and was walked three times and still drove in two.
After a tough outing from the Bulldog starter, Kethan Efron (Henderson, NV), Kyler Bacosa (San Jose, CA), Jack Brown (San Diego, CA), Aziz Bishop (Baltimore, MD), Phillip Economos (Huntington Beach, CA), John Hernandez (Fontana, CA), and Kaiya Saito (Bellevue, WA) combined to hold the Kingsmen scoreless from the end of the second through the eighth.
Game 2 (W, 10-9)
The Bulldogs flipped the script from the opening two games of the series as they were the ones with a big lead late in the game, 8-3 and then 9-5.
They went from a 2-0 deficit in the first to up 5-3 after three innings. The runs came on a double play in the second, a Cell single that scored Rylan Morris (Fullerton, CA) in the third, a sacrifice fly in the third by Saito, and a two-run single up the middle off the bat of Miller.
Miller made it 6-3 with a solo shot in the fifth before Cell and Saito doubled and singled home runs for an 8-3 U of R lead in the top of the sixth.
The Kingsmen cut into the lead with a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth. Preece, though, singled home Morris to make it a four-run advantage, 9-5.
In the bottom half of the seventh the Kingsmen scored four times to tie the game at nine. After each team failed to score in the eighth, the game-winning hit came from De Vries who doubled home Umscheid in the ninth. Saito came on in the ninth and secured the win, the first of his career.
The Bulldogs banged out 15 hits and drew seven walks, but 12 runners left on base kept them from scoring more runs. Morris, Kirkland, Cell, Miller, and Saito combined for 11 hits, eight runs scored, seven RBI's, and three walks.
Redlands play Occidental College on the road this Friday, April 11 at 3 p.m.
