PASADENA, Calif. (Feb. 20, 2022) – Caltech baseball returned to the North Field this Sunday for a single game against La Sierra University, rebounding confidently after a challenging series last weekend to record a dominant 9-4 victory.

Senior Ryan Ruscansky (Annandale, N.J. / North Hunterdon) started on the mound for the Beavers and threw a seven-inning, one-run gem, striking out four Golden Eagle batters along the way. Despite some late runs by the visitors, Caltech's bullpen protected Ruscansky's lead to improve his season record to 2-1.

"I'm happy with the way we responded to a tough series last weekend," Head Coach Kevin Whitehead said. "The team came out to work really hard and we tackled several things that we need to improve on. It shows a lot about the character of our student-athletes to turn the page."

After a quiet first two innings, senior Spiro Stameson (Newport Beach, Calif. / Newport Harbor) led off the bottom of the third by knocking a double down the left field line. Two batters later, junior Will Dembski (Pella, Iowa / Pella Christian) blasted a pitch over the left field wall to break the deadlock. It was his fifth home run of the season, giving the Beavers an early 2-0 lead.

Speed and aggressive baserunning led to more runs in the fourth inning. Junior Jack Warren (Foster City, Calif. / San Mateo) led off with his second single of the game, and then when senior Dawson Beutler (Omaha, Neb. / Millard West) came to the plate, Warren sprinted toward second on a hit and run. Beutler's hard grounder to short might have been a routine double play if not for Warren taking off; he slid in safely to second base and induced a wild throw into the La Sierra dugout so by rule was allowed to score and Beutler was awarded second base.  Beutler then scored on an RBI groundout by Stameson to stake the Beavers to a 4-0 lead.

Stameson drove in another run in the bottom of the sixth, bringing home Warren from third base, and things got busy again after the seventh inning stretch. Freshman Garret Knuf (Laguna Niguel, Calif. / Dana Hills) opened up the frame with a leadoff single and scored all the way from first on a double by Dembski. Freshman Jack Fishel (Baltimore, Md. / Boys' Latin School of Maryland) then connected for an RBI single to score Dembski and extend the lead to 7-1.

Sophomore reliever Matthew Cox (Dallas, Tex. / Jesuit Dallas) took the hill in relief in the top of the eighth inning, allowing one hit but no runs to score, setting up Caltech comfortably for the defensive half of the ninth.

The Beavers still had one more inning to bat, however, and seized the opportunity to pad their lead as Warren opened up the frame by reaching first on an error and made it to third on Beutler's ground-rule double that bounced over the wall in left. Freshman Cameron McNamee (Great Falls, Mont. / Great Falls) then took his turn at bat, grounding out but earning an RBI as there was no play at home to stop Warren from scoring. Stameson earned another RBI on a groundout to score Beutler and give Caltech an ultimately insurmountable 9-1 lead.

Whitehead and the Beavers are back in action at home on Friday, Feb. 25 against SCIAC rival California Lutheran University with a 2:30 p.m. first pitch.