WHITTIER, Calif. – A pitcher's duel turned into a one-sided affair as the Sagehens combined for seven runs in the final four innings to down the Whittier baseball team at Memorial Field, 8-1, on a rainy Friday afternoon.
The Poets (3-3, 0-1 SCIAC) scored first in the bottom of the opening inning on an RBI single by Darby Weppner. Despite having the bases loaded with no outs, the Sagehens (No. 17 ABCA/No. 18 D3baseball.com) got out of the jam and prevented any further damage.
Pomona-Pitzer (9-0, 4-0 SCIAC) answered in the second with a run to even the score at 1-1. After starting pitcher Keith Hoefel struck out three batters in the top of the first, he walked two of the first three he faced in the second. The Sagehens took advantage of a throwing error and an RBI-groundout knotted the score.
WC threatened in the fourth but came up empty. Austin Straus hit what appeared to be the go-ahead RBI-single but Travis Bowers showed plenty of range and cut off the ball over second base and made the play at first.
Weppner, who led off the inning with a walk, was stranded at third.
Neither team mustered much offense in the fifth but the sixth proved a turning point.
Erik Munzer hit a sharp one-hopper to shortstop where Cory Goodchild misplayed the ball. The base runner forced head coach Mike Rizzo to make a pitching change. Two walks, a wild pitch and a single later, the Sagehens had a 2-1 lead.
After holding the Poets in the bottom of the sixth, the Sagehens exploded for four runs in the seventh highlighted by a three-run homerun by Munzer. Pomona-Pitzer added its final run of the inning off a bases loaded walk.
Whittier went down in order following the seventh inning stretch and the Sagehens added two more insurance runs in the eighth.
Hoefel threw 5.0 innings and allowed two unearned runs on four hits with four strikeouts but was tagged with his third loss of the season.
David Colvin earned the win with a complete game effort. The senior allowed one run on six hits with 10 strikeouts.
Andrew Vallejo continued his hot hand at the dish as he went 2-for-3 with a run scored. Reed Tuttle, Dan Gleiberman, Weppner and Goodchild all had hits in the loss.
Pending Mother Nature, the Poets will return to action tomorrow with a twin bill against the Sagehens at 11 am and 2:30 pm.