ANTHEM, Ariz. – Battling back from behind three times and slugging three home runs among their 14 hits, the George Fox University Bruins completed a perfect run through the Arizona Desert Classic baseball tournament with a 13-8 win over the University of Redlands Bulldogs Sunday afternoon here at the Boulder Creek High School field.
After falling behind 2-0 in the 1st on RBI singles by the Bulldogs' Connor Hancock and Jordan Dresner, the Bruins tied the game in the top of the 2nd when Danny Clifford singled and Zach Miller slammed his first home run of the season. The Bruins took the lead in the 3rd as Derek Dixon singled in Matthew Zeller, who had singled and stolen second.
Redlands regained the lead in the home half with two unearned runs, only to have George Fox knot it with a run in the 4th when Zac Israel singled in Miller. The Bulldogs went ahead in the last of the frame on a sacrifice fly by Nathan Bowker, and added two more unearned runs in the 5th on a two-out error. The teams swapped runs in the 6th, Timothy Williams hitting a solo homer, his first, for the Bruins, and Jason Henning singling in Bowker for the Bulldogs.
Down 8-5, the Bruins exploded for five runs in the 7th to go ahead for good. Jared Chase got the rally going by reaching on a wild pitch when he struck out, advanced on a wild pickoff attempt, and scored on a single by Zeller. Josh Rapacz singled, Zeller swiped third, and Dixon's force out grounder sent Zeller in. Danny Clifford doubled Rapacz to third, and Williams and Miller drew back-to-back walks to tie the score. Miller scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball, and Williams scored on a fielder's choice chopper to short, beating a throw home.
The Bruins added another run in the 8th as Chase singled and scored on a double by Rapacz. In the 9th, Miller singled and Chase drilled his second home run of the season to cap the George Fox scoring.
Rapacz led the Bruin attack with three hits while Chase, Zeller, Clifford and Miller had two each. Miller scored three times and knocked in three, and Chase also scored three.
Eric Kittelson (1-0),the third of five Bruin pitchers, picked up the win with 1.1 innings of no-hit relief, striking out two. Sean Eberhardt and Alex Keenan sealed the win with hitless 8th and 9th innings, striking out one each. The Bruins' setup man and closer have combined for 10 strikeouts and no wlaks in six innings thus far, allowing only two hits and no runs.
Redlands had 12 hits but none in the last three innings. Henning collected three hits for the Bulldogs, with Mark Tumlinson and Dresner getting two apiece.
NEXT: George Fox (4-0) heads to southern California next weekend, taking on California Lutheran University in a three-game series and Whittier College in a single game. The Bruins and Regals play a single on Friday at 2:30 and a doubleheader on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. The Bruins and Poets meet Sunday at 11:00 a.m. … Redlands will play the University of La Verne in the first of a three-game Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Rio Hondo College.
-- complete box score currently unavailable --