LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A day after defeating the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags on their home field, the visiting squad returned the favor, defeating the Occidental College Tigers 5-4, twice, on Anderson Field in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play today.
Occidental outhit CMS 10 to six and 11 to eight, but a trio of errors would prove costly in the losses as only four of the 10 runs the Stags scored today were earned.
In game one Oxy jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a pair of singles off the bats of Logan Allen and Anthony Salsedo in the opening inning. Senior right fielder Stephen Hilliard, reaching on a fielder's choice, was responsible for driving in Allen. He was then caught stealing to end the first frame.
The second time through the order the Stags caught up to Cory Popham, tying the game on two swings of the bat. A leadoff triple by William Knowles was followed by an RBI from Brian Gose in the third to tie things at 1-1.
In the fourth Popham would get two quick outs via strike outs, swinging and looking, respectively, but a hit batter, a walk and a double-steal followed by an infield hit by Knowles, which hit the field umpire, loaded the bases for the Stags. An RBI single, combined with a throwing error allowed two runs to score, giving the Stags a 3-1 lead. Popham would retire the final batter on a strike out as well.
Oxy sat down the Stags in order in the fifth and added a second 1-2-3 showing in the top of the seventh on a line drive to second, a live drive to a sliding Salsedo in center and a ground ball back to Popham on the mound.
Mitch Margolis took the hill in the top of the eighth after Popham allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits while striking out six. The freshman fireballer struck out the side to keep the game within a pair for the Tigers.
An exciting bottom of the eighth began with a leadoff singled up the middle from leadoff batter, Allen, who moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kevin Ozaki. Allen swiped third and an errant throw by the CMS catcher allowed the speedy shortstop to score, cutting the deficit to 3-2. After Salsedo was hit by a pitch, the Stags replaced starting pitcher David Ulrich with Matt Allan. Running on the pitch, Salsedo advanced to third as Hilliard lined a single to the left centerfield gap, putting men on the corners with one out. As Allan struggled to find the zone, the Tigers loaded the bases. Pedro Aldape, who collected a pinch-hit single to lead off the seventh, was hit by a pitch, the second Tiger plunked in the inning, knotting the score at 3-3 and knocking Allan off the hill. The Stags brought back Anders Kessleman, who was tagged with the loss yesterday, to finish the inning.
CMS loaded the bases on walks in the top of the ninth, forcing Margolis (2-1) off the mound with freshman Matt Malott taking over. A sacrifice fly by second baseman Scott Witte gave the Stags a 4-3 lead and a Tigers' throwing error allowed a second run across the plate giving the visiting squad a 5-3 advantage.
On the first pitch of the ninth, Alec Strain singled to left. Ross Pomerantz came in to run, advancing to second on an Allen single through the middle. A balk moved runners to second and third and with one out Salsedo chopped an RBI single over the mound, pulling the Black and Orange within a run at 5-4. Unfortunately, that is where the comeback effort would end as the final two outs were recorded on an infield fly and a dribbler back to the mound.
Ulrich earned his sixth victory of the season for CMS while Margolis (2-1) was tagged with the loss, his first of the spring.
The rubber game of the series would see the Stags score five third inning runs, four of which were unearned, knocking Strain, the Tigers freshman starter, off the mound early in the contest as Malott came in from the pen.
To lead off the bottom of the fourth, Ozaki would reach on a check swing single and steal second. It looked as if Hilliard would shoot a single up the middle to score Ozaki, who moved over to third on the second out of the frame, but a great bare-handed play by CMS starting pitcher Chad Hadzinsky would stop that opportunity. The inning ended on a ground ball to third.
Malott got a 1-2-3 fifth that ended with a 5-4-3 double play started by Riley Smith at third.
Although the Tigers threatened to break the scoreless stretch in the bottom of the inning, they stranded a runner on third for the second consecutive inning.
Continuing his offensive output, Ozaki singled for the third time of the game. Salsedo drew a walk and Hilliard singled to right, loading the bases for Smith. The freshman third baseman came through with an RBI, putting a crooked number on the board for the Tigers, sparking the dugout. With two down and two men on, Aldape battled, fouling off eight pitches, working a full count, before lining out to center, ending the inning.
Margolis entered the game in the seventh to face the top of the Stags lineup, striking out the final two batters of the inning after forcing a foul pup-up to Aldape for the first out.
Going back to the bullpen, David Feasler came into the game to throw the eighth getting a pair of fly ball outs with a line drive to second to end it.
For the second time of the game Ozaki led off with a single, sparking a string of three consecutive hits for the Tigers. Salsedo layed down a bunt single and when the third baseman airmailed it into right field he and Ozaki moved up to second and third, respectively. Hilliard hit a laser to first, which looked to be an out until it took a nasty hop clearing the first baseman, driving in both base runners, ultimately knocking Chad Hadzinsky from the game, and pulling the Black and Orange within a pair.
Another call to the bullpen put Jonathan Stavros on the hill to face the top of the Stags lineup in the top of the ninth. It took the freshman just nine pitches to retire the side in order. A groundball to John Ugai at second was followed by a weak fly-ball to Hilliard in right center and concluded with a high pop-up to Allen on the grass in the hole between short and third.
In the Tigers' last opportunity, Ugai nearly fisted a hit to left, but a leaping shortstop recorded the first out of the final frame. Allen slapped a single into center before Ozaki completed a 5-for-5 day at the plate to put runners at first and second for Salsedo. With a 2-1 count on the Tigers' centerfielder the duo took off running, moving into scoring position, uncontested, for Salsedo who reached on an error, driving in the fourth Tigers' run of the game and forcing pitching and defensive changes for the Stags.
Witte moved from second to the mound and Anthony Bouvier returned to catch after working behind the plate in game one. Salsedo stole second and CMS opted to intentionally walk Hilliard to load the bases, creating a force anywhere. The move paid off for the Stags as a groundball back to the pitcher turned into a 1-2-3 double play, ending the Tigers' hopes of a repeat performance from Friday afternoon.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps improved to 17-12, 10-7 SCIAC, behind Hadzinsky's third win of the season and Witte's first save in just his second mound appearance.
Strain (1-2) was tagged with the loss despite only allowing one earned run. He struck out a pair. Margolis tossed a total of 2.1 innings, striking out six.
Ozaki was the centerpiece of the offense, stealing two basses and scoring twice to go along with his 5-for-5 game. Overall on the afternoon Ozaki was 6-for-8 with a pair of sacrifices. Allen was 4-for-9, scoring three runs while Salsedo and Hilliard each collected three hits in the double dip. Smith was the only other Tiger with a multi-hit day.
Occidental (9-19, 5-12 SCIAC) will return to Anderson Field on Friday, April 8 to host the Whittier College Poets at 3:00 p.m.
Article by Tracy Maple, Sports Information Director
