LOS ANGELES — Reid Gibbs had three RBIs, Nolan Watson and Scott Ericksen combined for 12 strikeouts and the Occidental baseball team capitalized off Willamette mistakes late, grabbing their first win of the young season 8-7 Saturday afternoon. 

Gibbs hit a sacrifice fly to score Devon DeRaad and give the Tigers their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. He followed it up with a double to centerfield in the seventh, bringing inJamie Cooper and DeRaad to reclaim the lead. 

Watson struckout seven batters in five innings of work, giving up three earned runs, and Ericksen finished up the game with five strikeouts and two earned runs. 

With Oxy trailing by one in the bottom of the ninth, pinch runner Bryan Smith scored on an throwing error by the Bearcats' shortstop to tie the game at 7-7.

Later in the inning with two outs, pinch runner Liam Fischer scored on a wild pitch to give the Tigers the 8-7 win.

Derek Sun laid down a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the fourth to score Cooper for the Tiger's first run of the day. Jack Brancheau and Jared Baur each added an RBI of their own.

Season Impact: The Tigers improve to 1-1 on the season. Willamette falls to 3-2.

Game Two Postponed: With the Tigers leading 5-4 at the end of the 7th inning, game two of Oxy's doubleheader was postponed due to darkness. The game will resume tomorrow morning before game three at a time to be determined.