WHITTIER, Calif. — The Caltech baseball team faced off against Whittier College in a pair of road games on Saturday as the two squads wrapped up their three-game series. After earning ten runs in
a huge win over the Poets a day earlier, the Beavers scored 21 runs in the doubleheader for a total of 31 runs scored in the series.
Saturday's first game saw the Poets get out to a hot start before Caltech responded with some massive offense of their own. With Whittier leading 6-0 as the fifth inning began, it was sophomore second baseman
Garrett Knuf who stepped up, sending a deep shot over the left field fence to score himself and first-year shortstop
Mark Hu. The home run was Knuf's first of the season.
The Beavers would add a third run to the board in the sixth inning thanks to sophomore right fielder
Thorsen Kristufek; the Texas native connected on a massive double to right center, scoring senior center fielder
Will Dembski from first base.
Things began to look bleak as the game neared its end as Whittier held a 10-3 lead, though Caltech was far from admitting defeat as the eighth inning began. The frame would see Beavers log an incredible six-run inning to climb all the way back to within one run to make the score 10-9.
Starting off the team's run was Dembski, who reached first base after connecting on a single to left field. A series of walks would subsequently push him to third base before junior third baseman
Gautam Chawla rocketed a ball to left field, scoring Dembski and Hu for an RBI double.
Also scoring in the frame were Knuf, sophomore left fielder
Jack Fishel, first-year catcher
Aidan Hamner and Chawla – the latter three of whom scored on a massive RBI double to left field from senior first baseman
Jack Warren.
The team ran through the order one full time in the inning.
Game 2 of the doubleheader saw a different opening for both teams, as Caltech got off to a quick start and the Poets became the team to catch up.
A huge third inning from the Beavers saw them take a 5-0 lead, thanks in large part to a single from Fishel, a double from Warren, and a single from junior designated hitter
Leo Jenkins, all of whom scored. Also crossing the plate were Dembski and Hu.
The Beavers would log another two runs in the fourth inning, as Kristufek doubled to left field to score Jenkins and Dembski.
The team's 7-5 lead would become 10-5 in the sixth, as Kristufek recorded another batch of RBIs. With Jenkins and Dembski again on base, the sophomore struck a ball deep over the left field fence for his third home run of the season.
The home runs kept coming later in the game as Hu earned his first in the top of the ninth, scoring himself and Kristufek, who reached on a double.
Kristufek earned a total five RBIs in the contest to lead all players. The Beavers broke their season-high of most doubles in a game, earning six. The previous high was five, earned one day earlier versus the same Whittier squad.
Next up for the group is a three-game series versus the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags. Action begins in Claremont on Friday, Apr. 28 at 3 p.m. before the Beavers host Games 2 and 3 on Saturday, Apr. 29 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
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