LOS ANGELES — The Occidental College baseball team split a Saturday doubleheader against Pomona-Pitzer at Anderson Field, narrowly losing Game 1 by a score of 2-1 and rebounding in Game 2 to capture a 14-4 victory in eight innings and tie last year's mark of 23 victories.
Game 1: Pomona-Pitzer 2, Occidental 1
A Nick Gentili double in the top of first followed by a Jake Bruml two-run home run proved to be the difference maker for the Sagehens in Game 1. Though Bruml's shot over the left field wall was the only blemish on Tiger starter Scott Hong's (Los Angeles) stat line, the Occidental offense failed to provide run support for the junior pitcher, who picked up his first loss of the season.
Hong settled down after the first to throw six more innings of scoreless baseball, including sitting Pomona-Pitzer down in order in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth. He scattered just four hits and struck out seven hitters through seven innings of work.
"I've been having trouble getting out of the first inning the past couple starts," Hong said. "But it felt good after that. I felt my arm release was good, my off-speed stuff came out well today and I was able to spot up where I wanted to. I wish I could have that first inning back, but that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes."
Logan Allen (Atascadero) found his way to the top of the Tiger record books once again in the bottom of the first inning, roping a two-bagger down the line in left to surpass Mike Kniseley '90 and Matt Anderson '08 for the career doubles record with his 38th in four seasons as Oxy's everyday shortstop.
"I was just hoping I got it past the third baseman," Allen said after the doubleheader. "He was playing in for a bunt, so I'm glad he was playing in and I got it past him."
Oxy's lone run came in the bottom of the third with two outs. Allen walked and subsequently stole second base before Johnathan Brooks (Huntington Beach), who went 2 for 4 in the game, scored him with a single down the right field line after battling at the plate with two strikes.
Despite out-hitting the Sagehens nine to five in Game 1, the Tigers left nine runners on base in the contest. Their best chance, however, came in the bottom of the ninth, when Riley Smith (Bellevue, Wash.) and Victor Munoz (La Verne), who both had multi-hit games, recorded back-to-back singles with one out and Chris Caldwell (Santa Clarita) walked to load the bases with two outs to bring Hong to the plate. However, Hong grounded into a force out a second base to end the game.
"Pomona's a phenomenal team," Occidental head coach Luke Wetmore said. "And our pitching staff did a really great job of limiting them offensively. Unfortunately, they threw two really good pitchers at us in [the first two games of the series], and I've got to tip my hat to them. They did an outstanding job of limiting our opportunities. Even though we hit them, they kind of held us when they needed to."
Game 2: Occidental 14, Pomona-Pitzer 4 (8 innings)
The Tigers struck first in Game 2, scoring one run in both the first and second innings. After consecutive base knocks and a double-steal from Allen and Brooks in the bottom of the first, Smith plated Brooks with a single to left field. Allen and Smith would both finish the contest at 3 for 5 and each with two RBI and two runs scored. Brooks added a 2 for 5 performance with two RBI.
In the bottom of the second, Sagehens' pitcher Drew Helgren hit both Jacob Lee (Olympia, Wash.) and Chris Strain (Bellevue, Wash.) to put runners on first and second with just one out. After another Oxy double-steal, Hong grounded out to short to score Lee. Despite only going 1 for 5 in the game, Hong recorded three RBI while Strain went 2 for 3 with two RBI and a run.
Oxy kept the hot hand in the third inning, batting around the order and scoring six runs on five hits. Control remained an issue for Helgren, who walked Strain with the bases loaded to plate Smith and hit both Hong and Allen to score Munoz and Lee, respectively. The other three runs came off the bats of Brooks and Smith, with Brooks bringing Hong and Strain home with a two-RBI knock up the middle and Smith singling to the opposite field to allow Allen to cross the dish.
Occidental starting pitcher C.J. Maruyama (Danville) enjoyed his team's offensive firepower and run support as the southpaw allowed just two earned runs on nine hits and one walk while striking out two through a six-inning outing. He notched the victory to move to 5-1 on the season.
"It really helps when you have a lot of offensive support," Maruyama said. "[The team] helped me out a lot. I can go up there and just throw, I don't have to worry about how close it is or making sure the next pitch is perfect. I can just go out there and be myself. I give it all to them, they do all the work behind me, they were just out there making all the plays and making me look good, and so I appreciate it."
The Tigers poured on five more runs between the third and the eighth, adding contributions from Munoz and A.J. Libunao (Huntington Beach). Munoz finished the game 2 for 6 at the plate with one RBI and two runs scored while Libunao tacked one run and an RBI onto a 2 for 4 performance.
The Tigers were finally able to invoke the 10-run rule in the bottom of the eighth inning, when Hong walked with the bases full to take the final 14-4 advantage.
"We were patient at the plate [in the final game of the series]," Wetmore said. "We saw a lot more pitches, and when we do that we can hit deeper into counts. We were kind of jumping at those two arms early. Game 2 was completely different and you could tell our demeanor at the plate was a little more confident. So, we've got to figure that out going into the last four games because we're going to face good arms the whole way. We can hit, we've just got to be able to score more runs."
Upcoming
Oxy's victory in the second game, in conjunction with a Cal Lutheran sweep of La Verne and a Whittier 2-1 series victory over Chapman, allowed the Tigers (23-12, 14-10 SCIAC) to take sole possession of the four-seed in the SCIAC. Occidental will now host a doubleheader next Saturday against ninth-seeded Caltech at 11 a.m. and second-seeded Pomona-Pitzer at 3 p.m. and a single game on Sunday at 11 a.m. against third-seeded Redlands before traveling to the eighth-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Tuesday at a time to be determined.