TUCSON, Ariz. – Caltech Baseball is bound for Arizona this weekend for a two-game stand at Tucson Invitational Games hosted at Kino Sports Complex.
First up for the Beavers is an 8 a.m. Crown College, located in Minnesota, will head to the Southwest to take on the Beavers on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. PDT. Crown College comes into this matchup 1-3 to start the season. The Polars began their 10-game trip in Tucson with a win and a loss in their first two matchups losing 19-12 to Concordia St. Paul and defeating Concordia University (Wis.) 9-6 Friday afternoon.
A large veteran class leads the Polars, their rostering boasting 10 seniors and/or graduate students. Tyler Bloom, one of the seniors, is a name to look for heading into the weekend. Bloom took home UMAC First Team All-Conference honors in 2024 and was named to D3baseball.com's 3rd-Team All-Midwest. Bloom batted .331 in 37 games played in 2024 and is off to a good start in 2025 batting .375 through the team's first couple of games.
With a strong senior class comes the youth of this Polars team. Tyler Olson, a sophomore outfielder, had a strong debut 2024 season and is off to a hot start in 2025. Olson batted .400 in 2024 and is coming off a 3-3 game against Concordia. Kyler Thursten, a first-year infielder, has had an impressive start to his collegiate career as he posts a .444 average heading into the weekend.
The Linfield University Wildcats, located in Oregon, will take on the Beavers for the last game of their trip to Arizona. The Wildcats come into the tournament with a 4-2 record for their four-game stretch in the invitational.
The Wildcats are led by their strong pitching group headlined by their top two starting pitchers. Camden Oram has been the Wildcats' best pitcher to start the 2025 season coming into the weekend with a 1-0 record in two starts on the season. Oram has a 2.38 ERA in 11.1 innings pitched only allowing three runs, and striking out six. Zach Johnson is the other pitcher on this Wildcats staff who has impressed to start the year. Across two starts, Johnson has a 2.57 ERA allowing six hits and two runs.
Offensively, the Wildcats are led by their senior outfielder and All-NWC Honorable Mention Hunter Klingelhoffer who leads the team with a .292 batting average in six games played. Klingelhoffer is coming off a three-hit game against George Fox and will look to cause problems for the Beavers.
The Polars or Wildcats will likely have to face Beavers' ace Brendan Flaherty (Narragansett, RI / Lake Forest Academy) who comes into this weekend following a masterclass of a performance against Occidental last Friday. Flaherty threw a complete game on 162 pitches showing he can dominate late into games. In four starts across 2025, Flaherty has a 1.91 ERA with 31 strikeouts and allowed only six runs in 28 innings of work.
Caltech's offense has bounced back following the slow start to the year and seemingly has found its groove following last weekend's series win against Occidental. Jack Fishel (Baltimore, Md. / Boys' Latin School of Maryland) has been an instrumental part of the Beavers' offense leading the team in hits, average, runs scored, and stolen bases. Fishel is batting .386 through Caltech's first 12 games of the season and he'll be joined by infielders Mark Hu (San Jose, Calif. / The Harker School) and William Minatel (Brecksville, Ohio / Brecksville-Broadview Heights) who have been big contributors to this Beavers squad.
Hu comes into the weekend batting .244 across all 12 games and has been able to come up with hits in big moments. Hu leads Caltech hitters in RBIs and is second on the team in hits. His infield counterpart in Minatel has also impressed early into 2025 as he ranks second in batting average, walks and fourth in on-base percentage. Recently, designated hitter Jack Bernhardt (Littleton, Colo. / Columbine) has stepped up big for Caltech as he enters the Tucson Invitational the hottest hitter on the team. In his six games played, Bernhardt is 8-18 with an OPS north of 1.000.
Head Coach Kevin Whitehead will take on Crown College for the first game of the Saturday doubleheader at 9 a.m. local time, 8 a.m. PDT, and will follow it up with their second game later on that day against Linfield University which is scheduled for 4 p.m. local time, 3 p.m. PDT.
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