REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands baseball team (18-15, 12-6 SCIAC) finished off a three-game sweep of Occidental College after Jesse Bullard (Riverside, CA) hit a walk-off grand slam in the 14th inning Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers jumped out in front early with a two-out RBI single through the right side. But in the next half inning Nate Miller (San Jose, CA) connected on his first home run of the day, a two-run shot to left that scored Anthony Thomas (Moreno Valley, CA). Miller followed with his third RBI of the game as he doubled home Ian Umscheid (Beaumont, CA) for a 3-2 lead in the third.
Occidental then jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the fifth thanks to a pair of singles and an error. Redlands, though, slowly started to chip away, scoring once in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI triple from Umscheid.
In the sixth Tyler Barsness (Palm Desert, CA) flew out to right, which allowed Tanner Gerosa (Huntington Beach, CA) to score on the sacrifice fly. The third-straight inning with a run came courtesy of Miller who homered to left center to draw the Bulldogs to within one, 7-6.
After a fourth scoreless inning combined between Tanner Currier (Brawley, CA) and Gavin Duenez (Redlands, CA), the Bulldog offense had the three-four-five hitters coming up. With one out and a 1-2 count on Miller, he hit a high fly ball to left, which hit off the netting behind the wall to tie the game at seven.
There would be no more base runners, but Miller had sent the game to the 10th. In the top half of the inning the Tigers had two on and one out. Duenez, though, got a strikeout looking and a ground out to get out of the jam. Following a quick bottom of the 10th, the game went to the 11th.
Occidental had a runner in scoring position with one out, but relief pitcher Aziz Bishop (Baltimore, MD) got a strikeout and a pop out to Barsness in shallow right field.
Barness led off the bottom of the 11th with a hit by pitch before stealing second. Umscheid was then hit by a pitch, which put two Bulldogs on and the winning run 180 feet away with no outs.
Despite their best offensive inning since the sixth when they stranded two runners after the Gerosa sacrifice fly, Thomas, Miller, and Mason Chetcuti (Redwood City, CA) all were unable to get the job done, which kept the game tied at seven and due to darkness, the game was suspended.
Following the suspension Thursday, the two sides combined for only two hits in the 12th and 13th innings Saturday afternoon. But in the top of the 14th the Tigers had two on and one out after a pair of walks and a sacrifice bunt.
Bullard came on to pitch for Bishop and got two strikeouts to end the threat. Then in the bottom half Thomas and Miller both singled and Chetcuti was hit by a pitch that loaded the bases. Following a fielder's choice where Occidental got the out at home, Bullard came to the plate with two outs and on the first pitch he saw he sent a high fly ball to right center that cleared the fence for a walk-off grand slam.
Miller had a five-hit game, which included three home runs. It is the second five-hit game for Redlands this season and the 25th in program history. His three home runs make him only the fifth player to do so and the first since Ryan Beglin in 2003.
Bullard got the win after recording the final two outs. At the plate he had two hits and four RBI's. Umscheid and Thomas also had two-hit games.
The Bulldogs begin a three-game series with Chapman University next Friday at 3:00 p.m. in Orange.
