LOS ANGELES — Riley Smith's hot bat couldn't have been cooled down by a fire extinguisher. The senior shortstop finished the day with six hits, six runs scored, 3 RBIs and two game-extending home runs in Game 2.
Occidental split Saturday's doubleheader with Whittier, winning the first game by a decisive 8-1 score, but dropping a torturously close second game in 13 innings, 12-10. The Tigers now sit at a 12-14 record (8-7 conference), while Whittier improves to 16-9 (12-3 conference).
Game 1: Occidental 8, Whittier 1
The Tigers were firing on all cylinders Saturday morning, blowing out Whittier 8-1. For the Poets, who are currently tied for first place in the SCIAC, the seven-run loss marked the largest margin of defeat they have experienced all season.
Oxy was led by Mitch Margolis, who pitched an eight-inning gem in which he only gave up one earned run off of three hits and also recorded nine strikeouts.
With his performance on the mound, Margolis improved his season ERA to 2.85, which currently ranks as the fifth best mark in the SCIAC. He also ranks first in the league with 53 strikeouts.
Offensively, the bats were hot all game for the Tigers. Led by junior Victor Munoz, who knocked in three RBIs, the squad recorded 10 hits in the game and only struck out four times.
Munoz accounted for two hits, while designated hitter Devon DeRaad and center fielder Alec Strainadded another two apiece. Riley Smith also had a stellar day at the plate, going 3-4 and scoring three of the Tigers' eight runs.
Game 2: Whittier 12, Occidental 10 (13 innings)
Whittier jumped out to an 8-3 lead midway through the sixth inning and appeared to put the final seal on the last leg of this weekend's doubleheader. However, Oxy showed no let up and managed to rally back behind Smith's clutch bat.
After already picking up a hit earlier in the game, Smith smashed a two-run homer to tie the game at 8 apiece in the bottom of the ninth and keep the Tigers' comeback hopes alive. Then after falling behind by one run in the 12th inning, Smith blasted another solo bomb to even the score up once again.
Oxy was unable to engineer the winning run at any point in extra innings and couldn't tie things up after Whittier tacked on three runs in the 13th inning.
"Riley sparked us today and did a great job with the bat," head coach Luke Wetmore said. "But the bottom line is we didn't play very good baseball outside of that. We gave up 24 free bases in the two games, and when you do that to a team that's consistently hitting the ball out of the park, you give up more runs than you should. Of course, there's always some silver lining, but all in all I'm disappointed with the way we played."
Munoz and Charlie Caccamo were the only other Oxy players besides Smith to record multiple hits in Game 2. Munoz went 2-3 with two RBIs, and Caccamo finished 2-6 with one RBI.
Occidental will be back at it this weekend, as they play at Redlands on Friday and then host the Bulldogs for a double-header on Saturday.
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