PASADENA, Calif. (Mar. 19, 2022) - Due to final exams in the prior term as well as spring break, nearly 12 days passed between contests for the baseball program. That changed rapidly when the Carleton College Knights from Northfield, Minnesota came to Pasadena to begin a three-game set on Friday afternoon.

In game one, the visitors quickly took advantage of their Caltech hosts scoring in each of the first six innings on Friday afternoon, building a 9-0 lead that they wouldn't relinquish. The Beavers were able to manage four hits on the afternoon, with junior Will Dembski (Pella, Iowa / Pella Christian) leading the way offensively. Dembski unloaded two home runs in the game, going 2-4 with 2 runs scored and all 3 Caltech RBI.

In the sixth, Dembski connected to deep right center knocking in leadoff batter Jack Fishel (Baltimore, Md. / Boy's Latin School of Maryland) who got on board on a base hit of his own.

The only other run mustered by the Beavers offense came in the ninth when Dembski hammered his SCIAC-leading 7th home run of the season, this time a solo blast deep to left center. Despite Dembski's efforts, the visiting Knights closed things out, winning game one of the 3-game series, 12-3. In defeat, Caltech moved to 4-13 on the season.

Saturday brought a new day and the chance to play a doubleheader in slightly cooler conditions. "I wanted the guys to play loose, enjoy being back around each other and playing for one another," Head Coach Kevin Whitehead said.  "You have to continually remind yourself what you are doing, have fun and always keep things in perspective.  We emphasized this going into today's doubleheader." Getting the ball on the mound for Caltech, coming off his tremendous outing and win in Caltech's 9-4 victory against the Whittier College Poets two weeks ago, was senior right-handed pitcher Dawson Beutler (Omaha, Neb. / Millard West).

As effective and efficient as Beutler was against Whittier two weeks ago, he was even more impressive on Saturday morning, commanding the strike zone and dominating the Knights' batters. In pitching the nine-inning, complete game shutout, Beutler scattered nine hits and only walked one while striking out seven batters. Perhaps even more impressively, Beutler threw only 93 pitches in his impressive effort, with 63 of them being for strikes.

Beutler also provided half of the offensive production for the Beavers in the morning tilt going 3-4 and scoring one run. Sophomore third baseman Leo Jenkins (New York, N. Y. / Beacon) was credited with one RBI as Beutler scored when Jenkins grounded out to shortstop in the fifth. Freshman second baseman Garrett Knuf (Laguna Niguel, Calif. / Dana Hills) had the other RBI when he walked with the bases loaded, forcing in junior Jack Warren (Foster City, Calif. / San Mateo) who had singled to lead off the bottom of the 7th inning.  Beutler was dominant on the hill and closed out the game that he had started nearly 2 hours prior in the 2–0 Caltech victory, evening the series at one game a piece with the Knights.

With Caltech winning the morning contest, Saturday's nightcap winner would take the series.  Whitehead gave the ball to senior, right handed pitcher Ryan Ruscansky (Annandale, N.J. / North Hunterdon) with the hopes that like Beutler, he could replicate his fantastic pitching performance and outing of two weeks ago when Ruscansky was the winning pitcher in Caltech's 8-5 victory over Whittier.

Early in the contest the Beavers got behind the Knights, when Carleton earned a 1-0 lead in the top of the second.  In the bottom of the third, Caltech answered and more when they pushed across five runs, taking a commanding 5-1 lead into the middle frames. The Beavers added on in the fourth when Dembski narrowly missed hommering to left-field, settling for a double and driving in Fishel while pushing the Beavers lead to 6-1. Ruscansky was fantastic in the middle innings, yielding only a sacrifice fly to the Knights in the top of the seventh making it 6-2 with Caltech in control.

 

Ruscansky did a terrific job of mixing in his fastball and breaking pitches, beating up the strike zone, scattering six Carleton base hits and only issued one walk while striking out three in seven innings of impressive work. He started the eighth but when the lead off hitter reached, Whitehead removed Ruscansky in favor of junior right-handed reliever Steven Yee (Leawood, Kan. / Blue Valley).  Yee yielded a few hits and runs, including the runner he inherited from Ruscansky, but handed the ball off to sophomore left-hander Matthew Cox (Dallas, Texas / Jesuit Dallas) who was able to wiggle out of jam in the ninth with the tying run on third base to end the game on a deep drive to center field that Dembski hauled in to seal the doubleheader win and series victory. 

Next up for the Beavers is a SCIAC contest scheduled for next Friday, March 25.  The Beavers host the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges at 3:00 pm on the Caltech campus. They will continue the home-and-home series with a doubleheader at Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday, March 26. To live stream contests all season long, as well as follow all Caltech Athletics events, please go to www.GoCaltech.com.