LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Feb. 6, 2010) – A stormy morning that
looked to put a damper on the Tigers' scheduled opening day
let up and a patch of blue, dry skies opened up, allowing the
Occidental College baseball team to take the field and get the 2010
season underway. The Tigers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after
two innings en route to a 12-2 victory over the visiting Whitworth
College Pirates.
Oxy wasted no time getting on the board as freshman
centerfielder Logan Allen was hit by a pitch to
reach base for the first of four times on the day. He then scored
the first run of the season when senior designated hitter
Glenn Gray reached on a fielders choice.
Jason Jebbia drew a walk and quickly stole second
base. He moved over to third on the fielders choice and then scored
when Gray got into a run-down between first and second.
Allen then drove in the next two runs of the game.
In the fourth, Oxy added two more runs. Daniel
Kelley singled for the second of three times and came in
on a double down the left field line off the bat of Allen. Jebbia
then drove in Allen with a single to left.
The sixth was more of the same as Kelley led off with a walk and
scored on a Kevin Ozaki's second sacrifice
bunt of the game, sending Allen across the plate for the third time
of the afternoon.
With two outs in the eighth Tyler Eyrich
doubled down the line in left and came around to score when Kelley
singled.
In the final at-bat of Stephen
Hilliard's Occidental debut he
collected his first hit, a three-run homerun over the right field
fence, to push the Tigers' run total to 12.
Kelley led the attack with three hits while Allen and Jebbia
connected for two apiece. Both Kelley and Allen scored three times
and Allen and Hilliard each drove in three. Jebbia stole two bases
and Kelley swiped one.
Freshman Cory Popham got the first start of his
career for the Black and Orange and threw 6.1 innings, striking out
five. He got nine groundball outs and four fly balls, facing 27
batters. Whitworth scored a pair of runs, the first coming in the
sixth when the put together a pair of doubles and a single. The
second, and final run of the game for the Pirates, was in the
seventh. Oxy turned to the bullpen to close out the final 2.2
innings and they did so allowing just one hit.
Defensively, the play of the day came on a relay from Allen to
Jebbia on to catcher Brenton Wunner who threw out
a runner at the plate in the fourth inning. Kelley and Hilliard
each finished with four assists and Kelley added three putouts.
On Sunday, Feb. 7 the Tigers and Pirates will meet again on the
diamond. The first game is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. and the teams
hope to get in two games after the rain cancelled the opener today.
Article by: Tracy Maple, Sports Information Director
