REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands baseball team (6-3, 1-2) was unable to win their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opening series with California Lutheran University (CLU) on Saturday at The Yard as they lost game one 4-1 and the series deciding game two 12-9.
Game 1 (1-4)
Starting pitcher Joe Godoy was very good, but he had one trouble inning in the third when he allowed all four Kingsmen runs as they had a three-run double and an RBI-single before he got a strikeout and flyout to end the threat.
An inning later the Bulldogs pulled one of the runs back as Nathan Miller was hit-by-a-pitch with one out, Cade McClelland then advanced him to second on single to right before Jake Burgess singled to right center to make it 4-1.
The Bulldogs left a runner on in the eighth and ninth as they were unable to string together hits to test the CLU starter who threw a complete game.
Luke De Vries and Jared Anderson combined to go 3-for-8 at the top of the order with McClelland and Burgess adding three more hits from the bottom. Mason Chetcuti got the start behind the plate and drew two walks. Godoy finished seven innings with four runs and seven strikeouts. Kyler Bacosa pitched two scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts.
Game 2 (9-12)
After a very well-pitched game from the three pitchers in game one, neither team were able to hold the other offense down. The Bulldogs jumped out in front in the first inning like they did on Friday as Nathan Miller brought home Anderson on a sacrifice fly before Burgess singled up the miller and scored Tyler Preece for a 2-0 lead.
After CLU scored an unearned run against starter Nathan Buchan in the second, the offense scored four times to take a 6-1 lead in the bottom half of the inning. Will Cell scored on a balk before De Vries scored Kaiya Saito on a single. Preece then brought home two on a double.
CLU got a single run in the third and fourth innings before putting a crooked number on the board in the fifth as the game was tied at six.
Both offenses were scoreless in the sixth and after Miles Lu held the Kingsmen without a run in the top of the seventh the offense came through with three runs.
Ceasar Correa had infield single to second as Miller scored the lead run. Then on a wild pitch Burgess was able to make it home. Saito would get the third of the inning on a sacrifice fly to center as it was 9-6 Bulldogs after seven innings.
In the eighth Lu was able to get the first two Kingsmen batters, but CLU would then go double, single, single as they had the tying runners on base in a 9-7 game.
The first batter Bacosa would face out of the bullpen singled to Anderson at shortstop before a bases loaded walk and two-run single gave them the 10-9 lead. After two more hits the Kingsmen led 12-9 heading into the bottom of the eighth.
Redlands went in order in the eighth, but in the ninth still trailing by three they got Burgess to second after he singled and Gabriel Ceja at first following his one-out walk. The Bulldogs, though, would flyout out and hit into a fielder's choice to end the game.
Anderson, Preece, Miller, and Burgess all had two hits while Jack Brown was able to pitch a scoreless inning in the ninth.
Redlands will stay in SCIAC play next week as they play No. 23 University of La Verne on the road on Friday, March 1 at 2:00 p.m. before hosting them for a doubleheader starting at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday.