LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The University of Redlands baseball team (17-15, 11-6 SCIAC) swept their doubleheader at Occidental College Friday as they tallied 24 runs on 33 hits.
Game 1 (W, 11-6)
Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) hit a two-run home run as the second batter of the game after Tyler Barsness (Palm Desert, CA) singled to center on the second pitch of the game. Those were the first of five runs in the opening frame with the other three coming on an error that plated Nate Miller (San Jose, CA), Jesse Bullard (Riverside, CA) doubled home Mason Chetcuti (Redwood City, CA), and Aziz Bishop (Baltimore, MD) grounding out to score Tanner Gerosa (Huntington Beach, CA) for a 5-0 U of R advantage.
The Tigers came back with four runs in the second, but in the next half inning the Bulldogs pulled two back thanks to Gerosa, who singled through the left side, followed by Sean McCance (Irvine, CA) who hit a ball back up the middle plating Chetcuti to make it 7-4.
Each team's offense was held scoreless in the fourth and fifth before Occidental had an RBI single in the sixth to pull within two. The big blow, however, came in the following half inning when Miller hit a three-run home run, giving him four in less than 24 hours.
After two walks and a pair of hits with one run to begin the seventh for the Tigers, Bishop came on and stranded two runners to send the game to the eighth with Redlands up four, 10-6.
The final run of the game for the Bulldogs came courtesy of Anthony Thomas (Moreno Valley, CA) who found the grass in right field.
Chetcuti had a four-hit game, while Barness had three and the trio of Umscheid, Miller, and Bullard had two each. Miller and Bishop each walked three time too.
Erik Radder (San Diego, CA) got the win after throwing six innings. Bishop finished off the final 2.2 innings with no runs allowed.
Game 2 (W, 13-10 | 7-Innings)
Thomas and Chetcuti made it 2-0 putting UR on top for the second straight game as Thomas had a single and Chetcuti reached on a fielder's choice.
Occidental took the lead with four runs in the bottom half of the inning though. Between Barsness and Eddy Stone (Petaluma, CA) in the second and third Redlands retook the lead, 5-4.
Following a three-run third by the Tigers, Gerosa tied the game at seven with a two-run single. The back-and-forth continued with a two-run single by Occidental in the bottom of the inning.
In the fifth and sixth a combined four runs were scored with Miller hitting a sacrifice fly, scoring Karlsen Drake (San Diego, CA), Thomas lined out to left for a sacrifice fly, Occidental had a bases loaded walk, and Bullard tied the game with a solo shot to left center as the two sides went to the seventh tied at 10-10.
The winning hit for Redlands came in the seventh when Gerosa doubled down the right field line. Bullard added his second home run in as many innings as he extended the advantage to three, 13-10.
Tanner Currier (Brawley, CA) gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, but the base runner was caught stealing by Chetcuti and the following two batters were retired as Currier secured his fourth win of the season.
Bullard's two home runs is the 31st game in program history where a Bulldog has hit at least two home runs. It is also the second time this season for Redlands along with Miller's two home run game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps last month.
Stone finished with four hits with Gerosa and Drake posting three-hit games.
After a rough pitching start, Jayden Broderick (Castaic, CA) and Currier combined for 2.1 scoreless innings.
The Bulldogs and Tigers still have game one from Thursday to complete Saturday afternoon, April 11 at 3:30 p.m. at The Yard. The game was suspended due to darkness with the game tied at seven heading into the top of the 12th inning.
