Box Score PASADENA (Mar. 9, 2019) – The Caltech baseball team hung with Whitman College for the better part of Saturday's non-conference matinee home game.
Freshman Ryan Ruscansky (Annandale, N.J. / North Hunterdon) opened the game for the host Beavers and spun three innings of one-hit baseball, allowing his side to take a one-run lead in the first inning. Freshman outfielder William Cook (El Segundo, Calif. / Windward School) advanced senior outfielder Mark Burleson (Ladera Ranch, Calif. / Tesoro) to third on a hit-and-run situation into right center. With both runners on, the Beavers utilized good baserunning to generate the go-ahead run. Cook initiated the play when he took off for second, but a bad throw by the opposing catcher also allowed Burleson to easily cross home plate to stake his team to a brief lead.
Caltech had the opportunity to strike back against the Blues when the visitors knotted things in the fourth inning in the ensuing frame. Sophomore first baseman Mitchell Watson (Windsor, Colo. / Windsor) gave a fastball from Whitman's starting pitcher a ride to deep centerfield that threatened to leave the park before the visiting fielder made a great play to stifle the attempt.
The Beavers got on the board again in the ninth inning, first when freshman outfielder Spiro Stameson (Newport Beach, Calif. / Newport Harbor) hit a sac fly into right field to bring classmate Matthew Szedlock (Westminster, Md. / Gerstell Academy) home from third. The Beavers added their third run of the game when a Burleson double into left center field scored fellow senior Connor Moffatt (Charleston, W.Va. / George Washington) from the top of the diamond. Moffatt and Burleson each led Caltech with two hits apiece.
Head Coach Kevin Whitehead and the Beavers will take North Field again on Thursday, Mar. 14 when they host Ithaca College in a rematch of last year's game in Pasadena.
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