Photo by: Christopher Zhou, Caltech Yearbook

 

PASADENA, Calif. (Feb. 13, 2022) - On a spectacular weekend for baseball, with temperatures in the mid-80s, the Caltech baseball team hosted a four-game  nonconference series against the Pioneers of Lewis & Clark College.

 

While dropping the first game of the series 15-4, Caltech was led offensively by junior Will Dembski (Pella, Iowa / Pella Christian) who went 2-4 in the contest, knocking in three runs while doubling in the seventh inning and then smashing a prodigious ninth-inning home run, his second of the season. Freshman Garrett Knuf (Laguna Niguel, Calif. / Dana Hills) also went 2-4 on the afternoon with a double while scoring two runs. Defensively, Caltech was aided by two outstanding double plays in both the top of the first and second innings. Unfortunately, even with these two double play balls, the pitching staff issued eight walks while recording only five strikeouts and allowing 20 base hits in the opener.

 

Game two of the series, the first of a Saturday doubleheader, saw the Beavers enjoy their first lead of the weekend as sophomore Leo Jenkins (New York, N.Y. /Beacon) drove in Dembski in the bottom of the first. Lewis & Clark answered with two runs in the top of the second inning, but Dembski delivered in the bottom half of the frame, doubling to right center and plating sophomore Kyle Reese (Sammamish, Wash. / Winward School) and freshman Edward Speer (Austin, Texas / Leander) who had both singled.

 

This 3-2 Caltech advantage would be the last of the weekend, however. Trailing 8-3 going into the bottom of the sixth, freshman Jack Fishel (Baltimore, Md. / Boy's Latin School of Maryland) was hit by a pitch. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and Jenkins proceeded to earn a walk before freshman Thorson Kristufek (McKinney, Texas / McKinney) doubled to deep center, driving in two and making it an 8-5 ballgame. Despite efforts at bat and in the field, the home team would get no closer, dropping the result 16-5.

 

After a 30-minute break, the two teams were back at it in the afternoon game of the twin-bill. After conceding one run in the top of the first, the Beavers tied the score in the bottom half, when Dembski led off with a single but was erased on a fielder's choice off the bat of Fishel. Fishel advanced to second and later scored on a double to centerfield by Jenkins, tying the game at one.

 

Despite battling at the plate, the Beavers would have to wait until the bottom of the fourth inning to get any closer. When senior Ryan Ruscansky (Annandale, N.J. / North Hunterdon) homered to left, knocking in Reese and making the deficit seven runs, trailing the Pioneers 10-3, there seemed to be a sense of hope for Caltech. Unfortunately, the hosts' hopes of getting back into the contest were short-lived. While there were several reasons that Lewis & Clark outscored Caltech, one of the critical success factors for the Pioeneers was their discipline at the plate. Caltech pitchers would walk 14 on the afternoon while only recording seven strikeouts, in addition to the 16 hits by the Pioneers in the contest. This added up to the Beavers being defeated 22-3 in this run-rule game that was called after seven innings.

 

Sunday morning brought an optimism and renewed attitude that Caltech baseball could scratch back and win one of the four contests in the series. Yet the Pioneers were determined to seek a sweep and got out to a quick three-run lead to start the ballgame. That margin would grow as Caltech would face a 14-run deficit in the bottom half of the fifth inning before the Beavers found their way onto the scoreboard. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, pinch hitter sophomore Darren Rhodes (Waco, Texas / Midway) walked preceding Dembski's third home run of the season that drove in two. Dembski would go on to hit a solo bomb in the bottom of the seventh, his second homer of the game, third of the series, and fourth of the season. Junior Jack Warren (Foster City, Calif. / San Mateo) homered to right in the bottom of the sixth inning to account for the Beavers' only other run as the Pioneers won the game 17-4, sweeping the series.

 

Head coach Kevin Whitehead and the Beavers are back in action on Sunday, Feb. 20 at 11 a.m. when they host Whitworth University.