LA VERNE, Calif. – A close game one loss, 11-10, and a low-scoring game two win, 6-3, led to the University of Redlands baseball team (16-9, 5-4) splitting with No. 12 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Saturday afternoon.

Game 1: Redlands 10 – CMS 11

The Bulldogs again fell behind early as they conceded three runs in the first. The offense, though, put two on the board in the second on a Mason Chetcuti RBI-single and a wild pitch later in the inning.

They then took the 6-5 lead in the third when Ian Umscheid singled home Tyler Preece and Nate Miller hit a big three-run home run that brought around Gabriel Ceja and Umscheid.

CMS reclaimed the lead with a single and three-run double in the seventh and pushed ahead by three, 9-6. In the eighth, though, it looked like the Bulldogs would complete the comeback thanks to a Jake Burgess double, a Cade McClelland two-run single, and a second run-scoring wild pitch.

The Stags, however, would push two across the plate thanks to two singles as they secured the series win.

The six-through-nine hitters had seven of the 10 hits and seven of eight RBI.

Game 2: Redlands 6 – CMS 3

Starter Nathan Buchan gave the Bulldogs their first good pitching appearance of the series as he went 6.1 innings with only two earned runs. They then got their second and third good appearance from Gavin Duenez and Brett Edwards who finished off the seventh through ninth innings with only one hit allowed.

For the first time in the series the first lead of the game went to Redlands as Tyler Preece, Mark Kirkland, and Umscheid each drove in runs during their four-run third inning.

Insurance runs came in the seventh and ninth innings courtesy of a Preece RBI-single that scored Rylan Morris and a Kaiya Saito sacrifice fly to right.

The two through five hitters woke up with seven hits, four RBI, and three runs scored. It was a good time to do so as the rest of the lineup produced only one hit.

Redlands has six days to prepare with no more midweek non-conference games as they start a weekend series with Caltech on March 28 at 3 p.m. in Pasadena.