AZUSA, Calif.—In a battle of unbeatens, Lewis & Clark College baseball stormed back from an 8-2 deficit after five innings, to earn an 11-9 comeback win over host Claremont-Mudd Scripps at Asuza Pacific on Friday afternoon. 
 
THE BASICS
 
Lewis & Clark 11, CMS 9
(Lewis & Clark 5-0) 
(CMS 3-1) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
After being limited to three solo home runs in the first six innings, Lewis & Clark exploded for seven runs in the top of the seventh and Tyler Shimabukuro and Anthony Clerici held off Stags rallies to earn the win. 
 
Sophomore Will Heron and senior Dylan Moore each hit home runs during the seventh-inning rally. Heron, the reigning Northwest Conference Player of the Week, crushed a go-ahead, 3-run home run to give the Pios a 9-8 lead. Moore followed with a solo shot, his second home run in as many innings, to make it 10-8. 
 
Senior Jack Thomson led the Pioneers with three hits in four at-bats, to go along with three runs scored and an RBI. Law-student Jacob Serafini hit his first home run of his career and scored twice, while senior Jack Savant finished with two hits and a run scored. 
 
Lewis & Clark had to rely heavily on their bullpen after junior starter Brett Pierson was undone by his defense. The Piosace lasted just 3.2 innings after three Pioneers errors caused him to give up seven runs (two earned) in the first four frames. Sophomore Ryan Harvey was the first man out of the pen and went 2.1 innings, while allowing one run, to earn his first collegiate win. Shimabukuro kept the hosts at bay by scattering two hits and one run across the seventh and eight innings. Junior closer Anthony Clerici ran into trouble in the ninth but kept CMS off the board to post his second save of the year. 
 
Claremont Mudd-Scripps leapt out to a 2-0 lead after one and 3-0 advantage after two thanks to a pair of Pioneers errors. 
 
The visitors responded with two runs in the top of the third. With one down, Serafini blasted his first collegiate home run to put the Pios on the board. Two batters later, Thomson pulled one over the right field fence for his second homer of the year. 
 
The Stags immediately responded with three more runs in the third aided by another L&C error. They pushed their advantage to 8-2 in the fourth with a two-out, two-run single from Miles Cook. 
 
After falling into their biggest deficit of the season, Lewis & Clark responded in a big way with the next eight runs and nine of the final 10. 
 
Moore started the run with a solo shot to left field in the sixth. 
 
The Pios grabbed control of the game with seven runs on five hits, two hit by pitches and an error in the seventh. Serafiniled off the inning with a hit by pitch and the visitors loaded the bases after back-to-back singles from Savant and Thomson. Lewis & Clark opened the scoring in the inning off a Stags error on a Brennen Davis ground ball that scored two. Junior Luke Bass followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 8-6 and force the first pitching change of the inning. Heron welcomed reliever Pieter van Wingerden with a three-run shot to right that gave the Pioneers a 9-8 lead. Moore followed with a solo shot of his own that ended van Wingerden's outing. 
 
CMS put runners on the corners with one out in the bottom of the inning, but Shimabukuro struck out two of the final three batters to keep the lead at 10-9. 
 
Lewis & Clark added a key insurance run in the eighth. Thomson singled and Davis and Bass followed with walks to load the bases with no outs. The Stags pitcher induced 6-4-3 double play ball to quell the rally, but Thomson was still able to score to make it 11-9. 
 
That run would prove valuable in the ninth. Cook led off the inning with a single but was erased on a line out double play to Thomson at third. The next three Stags all reached with two outs but Clerici induced a fly out to center to add to his program record career total (11 saves). 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Lewis & Clark is 5-0 for the first time since 2004. 
• The Pioneers bullpen trio of Harvey, Shimabukuro and Clerici combined to limit the Stags to two runs (both earned) over 5.1 innings. CMS averaged 11 runs per game in their three-game sweep over George Fox University last weekend. 
• Lewis & Clark hit a season-high five home runs (four solo). It's the most home runs by the Pios in a single-game since at least 2012. 
• After struggling in California as a freshman (nine earned runs in 3.1 innings), Harvey is 1-0 in two appearances this spring and has allowed one earned run in 3.1 innings of work. 
• With the win, the Pioneers snapped a five-game losing streak against CMS that dates back to 2018.  

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will play two more games against CMS on Saturday, with the first end of the doubleheader set for 11 a.m.