LOS ANGELES — Freshman Devon DeRaad stepped up and threw five scoreless relief innings against one of Division III's most talented offenses, but the rest of the Occidental baseball team couldn't engineer much as they suffered a 7-0 loss to Northwest Conference powerhouse George Fox.
The Bruins jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after the first three innings, but DeRaad was able to extinguish their hot start. It was a good sign for the talented Oxy youngster, who got off to a rocky start on the mound earlier this season. DeRaad is playing a big role as one of Oxy's key pitchers and a big bat in the middle of the lineup.
"Devon did a phenomenal job," Oxy head coach Luke Wetmore said. "We are a talented club, but we're just not playing very good baseball right now. We gave them extra bases on a few overthrows, free walks, and had a couple of balls that went under our glove here and there. When you do that to a good team, they put up seven runs in three innings."
The dynamic brotherly duo of Josh and Zach Rapacz led George Fox offensively, combining for five hits and four RBIs. First baseman Derek Dixon also recorded two hits, one of which came as a solo home run in the first inning. Pitcher Clay Gartner, who threw eight scoreless innings, gave up only four hits, and recorded nine strikeouts, was virtually untouchable on the mound.
Gartner managed to stifle the Tigers offensively for a vast majority of the game. One of the few bright spots came in the bottom of the sixth, when right fielder Scott Ericksen led off the inning with a line drive single, and first baseman Johnathan Brooks followed it up with a screaming double down the left field line. However, Oxy couldn't capitalize, and recorded three consecutive strikeouts to end the inning.
With the loss, Occidental falls to 2-5 (1-2 in SCIAC), but will have two more chances against the Bruins in tomorrow's doubleheader.
George Fox improves to 7-1 with the win, beating their third SCIAC team this season. Last year, the Bruins were the runner up to Linfield in the Northwest Conference.
"We just need to eliminate some defensive mistakes, shorten up our swings, and make some small adjustments," Wetmore said. "Our guys know this and have some work to do, but it's not the end of the world. We'll get another shot at it tomorrow."