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LOS ANGELES — The Occidental College baseball team fell in its season opener 9-1 to defending Northwest Conference Champion Linfield at Anderson Field on Sunday.

Jack Brancheau singled in Reid Gibbs for Oxy's only run in the bottom of the sixth inning. 

Bryan Smith went 1 for 3 for Oxy.

The Tigers struggled to get the bats going on offense, managing just a pair of hits against Ethan Jones, who went 6.2 innings with seven strikeouts and just the one earned run in the win.

Dylan Peters finished the game for Linfield, going 2.1 perfect innings.

Linfield rallied for five runs in the top of the first inning and added a few late in the game. 

Gibbs and JP Flores each stole a base for the Tigers.

Next Game: Oxy begins SCIAC play next Friday against Whittier. Game 1 of the three-game series is at Oxy and Games 2-3 will be at Whittier.