Claremont, Calif. - Senior Jake Bruml was 5-for-6 with two homers, both of which came in a 10-run third inning, and the Pomona-Pitzer Baseball team held on to win a slugfest over Puget Sound 19-17 on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Field. 

With the win, Pomona-Pitzer levels its record on opening weekend at 2-2, splitting two games with Puget Sound on Friday and Sunday and splitting a doubleheader with Whitworth on Saturday. Puget Sound falls to 1-2 with the loss. 

The Sagehens were in control up 19-8 through seven innings, but the Loggers scored three times in the eighth and then scored six in the ninth before Pomona-Pitzer recorded an out. Freshman Nick Olmanson, who was summoned from the bullpen with the bases loaded and allowed a grand slam to Layn Croney to cut it to 19-17, regrouped and retired the final three batters in order with heavy pressure with the Loggers back within two runs, including a strikeout for the second out.

The Sagehens were trailing 5-2 going into the bottom of the third, when they sent 14 runners to the plate. Bruml pulled Pomona-Pitzer within 5-4 with a two-run shot to start the rally, and then added a three-run blast to make the score 11-5. Senior shortstop Sam Fox capped off the inning with an RBI double to push the lead to 12-5.  Sophomore center fielder Tanner Nishioka added a two-run single in the inning as well. 

Puget Sound closed to within 12-8 with three runs in the top of the fifth, but the Sagehens answered with four runs in the bottom of the fifth and three in the bottom of the sixth to go ahead 19-8. Freshman catcher Kevin Jordan had a two-run double to key the fifth inning, while Nishioka had an RBI single. In the sixth, junior first baseman Simon Rosenbaum led off with a solo homer, and both Jordan and Nishioka had RBI walks with the bases loaded to make the score 19-8.

Croney had a two-run single in what seemed like a harmless three-run eighth, and then capped off the six-run ninth with a grand slam to give him six RBI. Logan Day and Connor Savage added RBI singles. Fox made a key play after the grand slam, when he retreated on a soft liner off the end of the bat to play it on a hop rather than try to charge it, and then got the runner by a full step. After Olmanson struck out the next better, senior third baseman E.J. Lopez gobbled up a grounder down the line and made a long throw across the diamond to wrap up the win. 

Casey Hershfield earned the win for Pomona-Pitzer with three innings of relief work, allowing four hits. Bruml's final line after a lineout in his last at bat was 5-for-6 with five runs scored and five RBI, while Nishioka was 3-for-6 with four RBI, Fox was 3-for-6 with two RBI, and Jordan was 1-for-4 with four RBI. Bobby Hosmer added four RBI for the Loggers, batting 2-for-3, while Croney was 2-for-5 with his six RBI on the day. 

Pomona-Pitzer is back in action when it hosts CMS in its SCIAC opener on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
 
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