PASADENA, Calif. – Caltech Baseball continued its season on Saturday as they hosted the University of Chicago Maroons on North Field for two games, just coming up short in game one by a 6-3 score, and 8-7 in game two.
Game one began with Beaver's starter Brendan Flaherty (Narragansett, RI / Lake Forest Academy) on the mound in what was a very impressive performance for him. The first inning brought some trouble early, with UChicago's Braden Jirovec doubling to start the game. Erik Rindner singled to left field, scoring Jirovec and putting the Maroons up 1-0 early.
In the fourth inning, the Maroons would strike again; this time it was first-year Nathan Bae who hit his first collegiate home run, a solo shot that put UChicago up 2-0.
Fast forward to the sixth inning, the Beavers got on the board, and it all started with a one-out walk to designated hitter Jacob Alderete (Murrieta, Calif. / Murrieta Mesa). Once on base, Alderete stole second and gave the Beavers a chance with a runner in scoring position. Jack Fishel (Baltimore, Md. / Boys' Latin School of Maryland) then cashed in on the opportunity, singling to centerfield and scoring Alderete in the process. After six innings, the Beavers trailed 2-1.
After a scoreless top half of the eighth inning, the Beavers came to hit. Catcher Edward Speer (Austin, Texas / Leander) walked to start the inning and was followed by a single into right field from Jacob Alderete. Maroons right fielder Devan Johnson muffed the ball in right field, allowing Speer to score all the way from first and advanced Alderete to third with no outs in the inning.
Left fielder Levi Alderete drove Jacob in the next at-bat, giving the Beavers a 3-2 lead, which they carried into the ninth inning. Brendan Flaherty was finally replaced in the top of the ninth, ending his day in what was nothing short of excellent. Flaherty went eight innings, allowing four hits, two runs, and striking out 13 hitters.
In the ninth inning, it was a defensive collapse from the Beavers as they allowed the Maroons to score four runs to take a 6-3 lead. Only one of the four runs was earned, and the Beavers headed to the bottom half trailing by three. After Varun Gabbita was hit by a pitch and Kailen Hargenrader (Bethesda, Md. / The Maret School) walked, the Beavers had the tying run up to the plate in Edward Speer who struck out looking to end the game.
Game two was the opposite of game one in the sense that runs were scored fast and often to begin the game. Similar to game one, the Maroons struck first, scoring two quick runs in the top of the first inning to put UChicago up 2-0. The bottom of the first saw Jacob Alderete get hit by the pitch and after two back-to-back strikeouts, shortstop Mark Hu (San Jose, Calif. / The Harker School) singled to bring up right fielder Thorsen Kristufek (McKinney, Texas / McKinney) who singled to center scoring Alderete and getting one back for the Beavers.
A scoreless top of the second brought the Beavers back up to hit again and they cashed in. Five runs were scored by Caltech in the bottom of the second inning and was headlined by Mark Hu's second hit of the game, this time, a two-RBI double. Kristufek scored his second hit in two innings to score Hu from second, and all of a sudden, the Beavers led 6-2 after two.
UChicago would get one run back in the top of the third inning, and heading into the bottom of the third, Uday Narottam replaced Russell Kwinter on the rubber. Narottam allowed a run in the bottom of the third off the bat of Edward Speer to make it 7-3 Beavers, but that would be the last run they scored. Narottam would throw three scoreless innings while the Maroons slowly chipped away at the lead.
Scoreless innings from Beavers Ryan Wong (Chicago, Ill. / Lane Tech College Prep) and Jacob Alderete sent this game to the top of the eighth inning where Joseph Pieper (Palatine, Ill. / Palatine) would take over up 7-6 with just six outs needed to secure the win. Pieper retired the first two batters of the inning, but after a walk to Jack Goldstein of the Maroons, UChicago sparked a two-out rally.
Braden Jirovec, who did not start game two, pinch-ran for Goldstein on the bases. The next batter, Richard Lu, singled to center, and now the Maroons had the tying run just 90 feet away. Brady Miller hit an infield single, scoring Jirovec and tying this game up 7-7 with a chance to take the lead. First-year Max Weisner came up with the clutch two-out hit, singling to right-center and scoring Lu from second base to take an 8-7 lead, their first since it was 2-0 in the first inning.
Caltech would not score in their offensive halves of the eighth or ninth innings, dropping this game 8-7. The Beavers now sit at 3-3 following that series and will look to bounce back when they travel to take on the Cal Lutheran Kingsmen on Friday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
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