LOS ANGELES — Scott Ericksen was outstanding on the mound, Devon DeRaad continues to be a nightmare for SCIAC pitchers and the No. 11 Occidental baseball team made it 19 wins in its last 20 games with an 8-2 victory at La Verne on Friday.
Season Impact: The Tigers improve to 21-5 overall and are at the top of the SCIAC standings at 16-3.
La Verne falls to 16-11 and 9-7.
DeRaad, an All-SCIAC and All-Region selection in 2015, isn't making many outs. The junior from Scottsdale, Ariz. had another monster day, going 2 for 3, with a solo home run, three runs scored and a pair of walks. He's in the top 10 in the SCIAC in every major hitting category and leads the conference in home runs (7) and RBIs (28).
Ericksen pitched a quality eight innings for his sixth win of the season, striking out seven batters, while giving up just two earned runs.
Josh Cohen came on in relief for Oxy, pitching a scoreless ninth to seal the deal.
Oxy totaled 11 hits as a group. Reid Gibbs went 2 for 5 with a run scored, Bryan Smith was 2 for 4 with a RBI, Eamon McNeil and Jack Brancheau each went 1 for 4 with a pair of RBIs, and Jared Baurand Graham Pimm each went 1 for 4 with a run scored.
The Tigers rallied for four runs in the third, three more in the fifth and one in the ninth for a comfortable wire-to-wire win.
Next Game: The Tigers and Leopards play a doubleheader at Oxy's Anderson Field on Saturday. First pitch of Game 1 begins at 11 a.m.
Chasing History: Oxy is chasing the program's first SCIAC Championship since 1982 and looking to get back to the SCIAC Postseason Tournament.
9 Remaining SCIAC Games:
4/9 - La Verne (9-7 SCIAC)
4/9 - La Verne
4/22 - Cal Lutheran (13-3 SCIAC)
4/23 - at Cal Lutheran
4/23 -at Cal Lutheran
TBA
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** the final four regular season SCIAC games are determined by standings at that point in the season **
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