PASADENA, Calif. — The Caltech baseball team wrapped up its season on Saturday with an impressive doubleheader sweep over Bethesda University at home. The Beavers topped the guests 6-1 in Game 1 before coming from behind in Game 2 to nab the 8-7 victory.

The program honored its four graduating seniors – infielder Patrick Donahoe (New York, N.Y. / Bronx School of Science), pitcher/outfielder Kyle Reese (Sammamish, Wash. / Skyline), pitcher/infielder Leo Jenkins (New York, N.Y. / Beacon) and infielder Gautam Chawla (Princeton, N.J. / Princeton HS) – during a ceremony between the games.

With the two wins, Caltech finishes the season with double-digit victories for the first time in 64 years.

Game 1: Bethesda 1 @ Caltech 6

The opening contest kicked off just after 11 a.m. and it soon proved to be one of the Beavers' strongest games of 2024. The squad let up just one run, tying their season-best; the group connected for 10 hits and scored six runs. The Beavers gained the lead in the first inning and never trailed.

Sophomore righty Brendan Flaherty (Narragansett, R.I. / Lake Forest Academy) put in another brilliant performance as he pitched his fourth complete game of the season, letting in no earned runs and just one total run across his nine innings. The standout threw an incredible eight strikeouts and let up just one extra-base hit.

The Beavers scored their first run in the opening frame, which began with a well-timed single to left field from rookie left-fielder Kailen Hargenrader (Bethesda, Md. / The Maret School). A massive double to left-center field from junior first baseman Cameron McNamee (Great Falls, Mont. / Great Falls) pushed Hargenrader to third before junior right fielder Thorsen Kristufek (McKinney, Texas / McKinney) knocked a two-out single through the left side to score the first-year player from third and put the Institute up 1-0.

Caltech recorded its strongest offensive inning in the following inning as they added three more runs. Remarkably, all three runs came after the team faced a two-out situation with no one on base.

It was the senior and second baseman Donahoe who kept the inning alive, swinging on a 1-0 count and connecting for a good single to center field. A massive double from junior catcher Edward Speer (Austin, Texas / Leander) scored Donahoe before Hargenrader singled to right-center to score sophomore Austin Wang (Palo Alto, Calif. / The Harker School), who came in as a courtesy runner for Speer. A ground-rule double that landed just fair of the right field line scored Hargenrader to put the hosts up 4-0.

Chawla – who started the game at third base – scored the team's fifth run in the fourth inning after reaching on a walk; a hit-by-pitch pushed him into scoring position before a single to left center from Speer put the senior on third. A deep sacrifice fly from Hargenrader brought Chawla home to make it a 5-0 game. Donahoe scored yet again after the Flames hit sophomore shortstop Mark Hu (San Jose, Calif. / The Harker School) with the bases loaded.

The score remained at 6-1 from the middle of the fifth onwards, leading to Caltech's ninth win of the year.

Six different Beavers registered at least one hit; Hargenrader, McNamee, Donahoe and Speer each had two.

Flaherty picks up the pitching victory to finish the spring with five — one of the highest single-season win totals in program history. The star ends the year with a plethora of momentous single-season school records, including lowest earned-run average (4.19), most strikeouts thrown (82), lowest opposing batting average (.262) and lowest WHIP (Walks & Hits Per Innings Pitched, 1.31).

Game 2: Bethesda 7 @ Caltech 8

The day's second game began just after 2 p.m. and followed Caltech's Senior Day ceremony. This time, it was the Flames who took the early lead, though Caltech answered with some offense of their own to secure the gritty 8-7 victory.

Bethesda scored three runs in the opening frame and two more in the top of the third, though Caltech responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the third.

A ball put in play from Donahoe put the Beaver on base before he advanced to second on a fielder's choice from Speer. Hargenrader continued his stellar day with a double to right field to score Donahoe before McNamee rocketed a deep sacrifice fly to right to score Speer. Hargenrader then stole home after a failed pickoff attempt to put Caltech within two at 5-3.

Donahoe singled to left field in the fifth inning before Speer singled to right to push Donahoe to third; he took advantage of a passed ball situation and sprinted home to give Caltech its fourth run. A sacrifice fly from Hargenrader to deep left field scored Speer.

Caltech took the 7-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth after Kristufek rocketed a deep shot over the left field wall for a massive two-run homer to score himself and Flaherty, who reached on a single. It was Kristufek's second long shot of the spring.

The Flames tied it all up at 7-7 in the top of the seventh but the Beavers again answered with another run as Hargenrader scored on a passed ball after reaching on a walk, stealing second and advancing to third on a wild pitch.

McNamee pitched a strong eighth inning before returning in the ninth with the 8-7 advantage. Pitching with two outs and a runner on second, a Bethesda batter made contact for a good hit to right field — there, Reese corralled the ball before firing a bullet towards home base, where Speer received it and tagged out the would-be tying run at the plate, ending the game and giving Caltech the victory.

Six different Beavers logged one hit in the contest; McNamee picks up his first win of the spring after pitching 2.2 innings and letting up just three hits and no runs with three strikeouts. Jenkins started the game on the mound and threw four strikeouts in his three innings.

Head coach Kevin Whitehead was quite pleased with how the team performed across both games on Senior Day.

"It was a great way to finish the year," said Whitehead. "A lot of guys stepped up and sent the seniors off right," he said. "All the seniors contributed and helped put us in double-digits in the win column."

"We were better today than we were at the start of the year," said Whitehead. "It was great to see guys fight all season, and I'm very proud of how we played and conducted ourselves."

The program will graduate its four seniors but return a talented team looking to continue making waves in the conference and region. Follow Caltech Baseball on Instagram and Twitter/X.

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