The 15th-ranked University of Redlands baseball team stumbled in its Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) season-opener on Friday, losing to the Occidental College Tigers by a final score of 6-9.
Both teams found a way to get the bat on the ball as each collected ten hits, but Redlands committed several miscues and errors, which led to a Tiger victory.
Occidental tacked on the first run of the game in the top of the second.
However, the Bulldogs recovered by pushing across three runs in the third. Senior leftfielder Trenton Lively (La Verne, CA) jumped all over a fastball, launching a two-run homer to give Redlands the early lead. Senior shortstop Chase Tucker (Poway, CA) nabbed his second triple of the season in the very next at-bat when he ripped a ball into the right-center gap. Tucker then took advantage of a wild pitch, sliding head first into home plate for the team's third run of the frame.
The Bulldogs' advantage was short-lived as Oxy bounced right back with six scores over the next three innings to hold a strong 7-3 lead after six stanzas.
Following three consecutive scoreless frames, the Maroon and Gray rallied for a three-spot in the bottom of the seventh, headlined by RBI from senior second basemen Cameron Lowe (Olympia, WA) and Tucker. Lowe punched in a deep double past the centerfielder's head and Tucker earned his eighth RBI on the year, connecting on a seeing-eye single through the left side on a 3-2 count.
Despite the Bulldogs' newfound momentum, a victory was just not in the cards as the team surrendered two runs in the top of the eighth. Oxy capitalized on a freakish inning that consisted of a walk, a wild pitch and a blooper-RBI-single along the right-field line.
Redlands' top of the lineup put together a solid effort as sophomore centerfielder Alex Scheiwe (Encinitas, CA), Lively and Tucker, combined for a 7-for-13 day at the plate with four runs and two RBI.
On the hill, junior starter Kyle Hart (Burbank, CA) received the loss after going five innings. He allowed five runs, including four earned, while scattering six hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
Senior Brock Jacobo (Yuma, CA) pitched a scoreless ninth frame, resulting in the veteran reliever's fourth scoreless appearance of 2012.
Redlands strives to bounce back when it faces Oxy again on Saturday in an 11 a.m. SCIAC doubleheader in Eagle Rock.