Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – Senior Ryan Schwenn pitched the best game of the season going eleven innings surrendering a run helping the Whittier College baseball team knock of No. 2 Kean University Sunday afternoon 4-1.
Whittier now moves to .500 on the season at 11-11, 5-7 SCIAC, while Kean drops to 10-3.
The Poets have now knocked off Kean for the second straight year after beating them in 2011 6-5 in extras when they were No. 4 in the country.
Schwenn did not get the win after going 11 innings giving up one run on 11 hits to go with three strikeouts. He gave way to senior Andrew Pigott who came into the game in the eleventh after the Poets took a 4-1 lead and shut the Cougars down in order achieving his first win of the season.
Schwenn's counterpart Sam Fourre for Kean was pulled quickly after 4.0 innings of work after he gave up one run on two hits striking out five. Steve Sanguiliano came in relief in the 11th for Diaz and surrendered three runs on two hits earning him his second loss of the season.
Whittier used two homeruns and a two out hit to pull out the 4-1 victory this afternoon getting on the scoreboard first in the top half of the 4th behind a solo shot from senior Andrew Vallejo who continues to swing a hot bat as he finished the game 2-5 with a run and an RBI.
In the 6th, Schwenn ran into a mini jam getting the bases loaded after surrendering a single and two walks but survived the inning by forcing Ramagli to hit into a double play that ended the inning.
But in the 7th, Kean answered tying the game up at 1-1 after Breckenridge doubled through the left side driving in Smarslok. After three more scoreless innings the Poets finally broke through with a two out rally in the 11th scoring three.
James Stafford led off the inning with a walk and after back to back strikeouts from Stephen Zavala and Pete Mitchell; Stafford stole second getting lucky that the shortstop dropped the ball on the tag allowing the inning to continue. On the ensuing batter Josh Genzuk stepped in and on a 2-2 count he drove a flare over the second baseman's head that drove in Stafford and the go ahead run. But Whittier wasn't done yet as Austin Straus stepped up and hit a two run shot to right center that put the Poets up 4-1 giving them a lead they would not relinquish.
From there Pigott came in and relieved Schwenn and shut the door on Kean in the bottom half of the 11th earning the Poets their eleventh win of the season.
The Purple & Gold return to the diamond as they open up a three game series with the Bulldogs of the University of Redlands beginning on Friday, March 23 as they travel to Riverside to play a single game beginning at 3pm followed by a doubleheader at Memorial Field on Saturday, March 24 with games slated for 11am and 2:30pm.