TUCSON, Ariz. – Caltech Baseball completed its weekend trip to the Tucson Invitational Games on Saturday evening after taking on Crown College and Linfield University.
The Beavers turned to their ace Brendan Flaherty (Narragansett, RI Lake Forest Academy) for game one of the weekend, but Crown was able to jump on him quickly. A leadoff triple from Polars' center fielder Drew Girtz and a single from Kyler Thruston put the Polars on the board first. Later in the inning, Tyler Bloom would single scoring another run, giving Crown a 2-0 lead after the top half of the first.
Caltech would quickly get some offensive action going. Quinn Hartman (Huntington Beach, Calif. Marina) led off the home half of the first with a double. Center fielder Jack Fishel (Baltimore, Md. / Boys' Latin School of Maryland) walked and third baseman Mark Hu (San Jose, Calif. / The Harker School) would single to load the bases early. Jack Bernhardt (Littleton, Colo. / Columbine) grounded into a double play, scoring a run, but the Beavers only managed one run in the inning.
A hit-by-pitch led off the top of the second inning for the Polars followed by a strikeout. Three straight hit-by-pitches would follow the strikeout and score a run for Crown. With a 3-1 lead, Bryan Gerbers reached on an error that would score another runner, but Flaherty dialed back in, striking out the next two hitters and leaving the Beavers trailing 4-1 after an inning and a half.
Caltech did not score in the bottom half of the second inning but notched a couple more runs in the third. Once again, it was Hartman who led the inning off with his second double of the game. Fishel singled which advanced Hartman to third and set up a good opportunity for Hu to do some damage. Hu reached on an error, scoring Hartman and giving the Beavers runners on the corners with no outs. A sacrifice fly from Bernhardt brought Fishel in from third but that was all the Beavers could do in the inning. A third of the way through the game, Caltech trailed 5-3.
Ultimately, Caltech only scored one more run in the seventh inning. A trio of two-run innings to close out the game for the Polars put this one out of reach, and the Beavers fell 13-4. Caltech's offense managed 11 hits in the game but left nine runners on base. Fishel led the team in hits, going 3-4 with two runs scored, a walk and a stolen base. Hartman finished the game 2-5 with two doubles and two runs scored.
As Saturday evening rolled around, the Beavers squared up for their second matchup of the weekend, this time the Linfield University Wildcats. Similar to game one, Caltech got on the board quickly. Designated hitter Jack Fishel and third baseman Mark Hu reached base on back-to-back hits, which set up the center fielder Levi Alderete (Murrieta, Calif. / Murrieta Mesa), who drove in the game's first run on a groundout. Right fielder Thorsen Kristufek (McKinney, Texas McKinney) singled to score Hu from third and made the game 2-0.
Linfield jumped on the Beavers and scored eight runs in the first inning, but Caltech battled back. The Beavers tallied eight runs on 10 hits, their second-highest run total in a game this year and their most since the win back on Feb. 8 against Southern California Leadership. It was a career day for Kristufek, who, on top of his first-inning RBI single, hit a grand slam in what was a five-run fifth inning for Caltech. Kristufek finished the two-game trip to Arizona going 4-7 with a team-leading six RBIs, scoring a run and walking once.
Brendan Flaherty and Kailen Hargenrader (Bethesda, Md. / The Maret School) collected the other two RBIs for the Beavers in their game against Linfield, but the Beavers fell to the Wildcats 18-8.
The next matchup for Head Coach Kevin Whitehead and his Beavers will come on Friday, March 14 when the Beavers will host the Dickinson College Red Devils at home on North Field. This will be the first game of a three-game set between the Beavers and Red Devils with the first pitch scheduled for 3 PM on Friday.
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