PASADENA, Calif. – Sophomore pitcher Brendan Flaherty (Narrangansett, R.I. / Lake Forest Academy) tossed a gem of a ballgame on Saturday, allowing just two earned runs through 8.0 innings pitched as Caltech edged the University of Redlands in a 4-3 nailbiter to open the doubleheader at the Beavers' home field.

Helping to secure Flaherty's fourth win of the season and seventh of his career was rookie Joseph Pieper (Palatine, Ill. / Palatine), who entered the game in the top of the ninth with the potential tying run up to bat with no outs. Pieper pitched calmly to induce critical groundouts and bring the Beavers to victory.

Caltech's offense came alive in the bottom of the sixth inning as junior designated hitter Thorsen Kristufek (McKinney, Texas / McKinney) tied the game with a leadoff home run, and then junior first baseman Cameron McNamee (Great Falls, Mont. / Great Falls) gave the Beavers the lead in the following at-bat, blasting a solo shot over the fence in right-center.

Later that inning, senior second baseman Patrick Donohoe (New York, N.Y. / Bronx School of Science) connected for a single and came home by way of consecutive base hits by junior catcher Edward Speer (Austin, Texas / Leander) and sophomore right fielder Austin Wang (Palo Alto, Calif. / The Harker School).

The Beavers scored a critical fourth run in the bottom of the seventh inning as junior center fielder Jack Fishel (Baltimore, Md. / Boys' Latin School of Maryland) stole home base; the standout initially reached first via a base-on-balls before advancing to third on a single from McNamee. The run proved crucial to the victory as the Beavers came away with the 4-3 win.

McNamee, Speer, and sophomore shortstop Mark Hu (San Jose, Calif. / The Harker School) each recorded two hits to lead the team; the Beavers connected for 10 hits over the nine innings.

Flaherty improves to 4-2 on the season while Pieper earns his second save of the season.

Game 2 kicked off 30 minutes after the conclusion of the morning game and proved to be another low-scoring affair. McNamee started on the bump for the Beavers, where he ultimately let up just two earned runs in 5.1 innings. Pieper relieved his teammate, letting up one earned run before senior Kyle Reese (Sammamish, Wash. / Skyline) came on in the ninth; the closer made quick work of the Bulldogs as he struck out two batters before forcing a fly-out to right field to make it a 1-2-3 inning.

The Beavers scored in the fifth inning as rookie left fielder Kailen Hargenraider (Bethesda, Md. / The Maret School) singled to right field to send home sophomore first baseman Jacob Alderete (Murrieta, Calif. / Murrieta Mesa), who reached on a throwing error.

McNamee led Caltech in hits on the day, producing five in his eight at-bats across the two games. The junior led all players from both teams in hits in Game 2, going 3-for-4.

McNamee, Kristufek, Wang and Hargenrader each added one RBI.

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