TACOMA, Wash. – The University of Redlands Baseball team (3-2, 3-0 SCIAC) traveled up to Washington for the start of a four-game series against the University of Puget Sound (UPS) Friday where they dropped game one 11-5 in a rain-shortened, six-inning game.
Redlands got on the scoreboard in the second inning when Bubba Correa (Redlands, CA) grounded out to first scoring Jesse Bullard (Riverside, CA) who made it to third after a Mason Chetcuti (Redwood City, CA) sacrifice bunt.
UPS came back and scored five times in the bottom half of the inning thanks to five hits with two going for extra bases.
Tyler Barsness (Palm Desert, CA) got the U of R offense started in the third with a double to right. Luke Hanson (Escondido, CA) made it back-to-back doubles finding the right-center field gap and Tanner Gerosa (Huntington Beach, CA) was the third consecutive hit, which brought the tying run to the plate.
After a ground out, Anthony Thomas (Moreno Valley, CA) plated Hanson on a fielder's choice that made it a two-run game.
The Loggers pulled one back in the bottom of the inning, but the pitching kept them off the board the next frame, which allowed the UR offense to draw closer in the fifth.
Hanson and Gerosa each walked and Nate Miller (San Jose, CA) singled to make it a two-run game, 6-4, as he became the tying run at first. After a stolen base by Miller and a walk drawn by Thomas, Bullard walked with the bases loaded to cut the deficit to a single run with the bases still loaded and no one out.
Following a pitching change by UPS, the Bulldogs struck out swinging the next three at bats ending the threat with the bases left loaded and the deficit one.
The missed opportunity to make the fifth a big inning offensively cost the Bulldogs in the bottom half as the Loggers had nine of the first 10 batters reach scoring five times despite only recording three hits as they drew five walks.
Redlands had doubles in two of their first three at bats in the sixth, but a base running error cost them their first base runner and a pair of groundouts ended the half inning before the ultimate decision to call the game due to heavy rain.
The nine through three hitters of Barsness, Hanson, Gerosa, and Miller had all seven hits for the Bulldogs along with four of their runs scored and two RBI's.
Joe Godoy (Los Angeles, CA) got the loss after allowing six runs in 3.2 innings. As a staff the Bulldogs allowed 11 hits and walked 10 Loggers in just six innings.
Redlands and Puget Sound return tomorrow, Saturday, February 14 to play games two and three beginning at 11:00 a.m.
