PASADENA, Calif. – Caltech Baseball welcomed in the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens on Saturday afternoon for a doubleheader.
Brendan Flaherty (Narragansett, RI / Lake Forest Academy) got the nod for the Beavers in the first game of the day, and he quickly worked out of a jam. Pomona-Pitzer had the bases loaded with only one out in the inning, but Flaherty dialed in, striking out one hitter and forcing the next one to ground out to escape the early threat.
Similarly, the Sagehens worked the bases loaded again in the top of the second inning; this time, they managed to get one run across on a sacrifice fly to right field. Flaherty quickly ended the inning, striking out the number-three hitter, Jack Gold, to strand more runners on base.
Trailing 4-0, the Beavers got some offense going in the home half of the fifth inning. Three consecutive singles from Quinn Hartman (Huntington Beach, Calif. / Marina), Jack Fishel (Baltimore, Md. / Boys' Latin School of Maryland) and Mark Hu (San Jose, Calif. / The Harker School) scored Caltech's first run of the day and pulled the Beavers back within three runs.
In total, the Beavers managed 12 hits in game one with Hartman, Fishel, and William Minatel (Brecksville, Ohio / Brecksville-Broadview Heights) all notching multi-hit games.
In game two, Joseph Pieper (Palatine, Ill. / Palatine) got the start for Caltech, and he was locked in to start the game. Pieper breezed through the first three innings as he allowed just one hit and gave up no walks.
Caltech ran into a bit of trouble in the fourth inning. The Sagehens tallied three straight singles to start the inning, and ultimately, all three of those hitters came around to score in the fourth. At a 3-0 deficit, the Beavers needed to bounce back.
The Sagehens tagged on another run in the top of the fifth, the seventh and two more in the top of the ninth to reach their seven-run total in this game. Caltech started the game with four hits in four innings, but was shut down by the pitching from Easonn Woods and Wade Dawson.
A Jack Bernhardt (Littleton, Colo. / Columbine) single in the bottom of the ninth snapped a streak of 14 Caltech batting putouts. It was an excellent defensive series with incredible plays all day long from both sides.
Head Coach Kevin Whitehead and his team will look to bounce back on Friday, April 25, for their next matchup, which will come against No. 11 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Game one of this three-game set will be played on North Field Friday afternoon, with action set to get underway at 3 p.m.
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