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LOS ANGELES — The Occidental baseball team opened its 2019 season with a pair of wins over Puget Sound at Anderson Field on Saturday.

Oxy had a lethal combination of outstanding pitching and hitting, beating the Loggers 20-3 over 18 innings played. 

Jack Brancheau went a perfect 5 for 5 on the day with a homer, a double, four runs scored and three RBIs. Puget Sound finally decided not to pitch to him after his blast over the wall in the first inning of Game 2, walking him his next four times at the plate.

Jake Fredrickson was also a monster for the Tigers, going 4 for 8 on the day with two runs scored, six RBIs, a double and a home run. 

Nolan McCarthy and Diego Ramirez dealt in their first starts, and Bryce Coyne and Matthew Geiger were both very impressive in extended relief stints.

Game 1: Occidental 8, Puget Sound 0

McCarthy was outstanding on the hill in the first game of the season, Brancheau started the season off hot at the plate and the Occidental baseball team looked sharp in its first outing. 

McCarthy, Oxy's 6-foot-5 junior ace from Portland, Ore., was virtually unhittable on the mound, striking out 11 batters in six innings pitched. He gave up just five hits and two walks on his way to the win.

Bryce Coyne pitched the final three innings scoreless to earn the save, surrendering just three hits and a walk.

Brancheau, played center field and went 4 for 4 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI. Fredrickson went 2 for 4 with a double, a run scored and an RBI, and Gus Patrick was 2 for 2 with a pair of RBIs.

The Tigers got one run in the first and then got hot in innings 3-5. The Tigers posted four in the third, two in the fourth and another in the fifth. 

Oxy also played mostly clean defense with just one error. 

Game 2: Occidental 12, Puget Sound 3

Oxy's bats erupted for 14 hits and 12 runs, and the Tigers got a second solid performance from their pitchers, winning easily in Game 2.

Diego Ramirez, a first year from Winnetka, pitched five solid innings, giving up just one earned run, three hits and a walk. He also struck out six batters.

Matthew Geiger closed out the final four innings, giving up just two hits and two unearned runs for the save.

Brancheau picked up right where he left off in Game 2, sending a two-run homer over the wall in the first inning to put Oxy up 2-0. Brancheau didn't see much to hit after that, earning four walks. 

Reid Gibbs went 2 for 4 with two runs and a double, Jack Fredrickson was 2 for 4 with a home run, a double and five RBIs, Michael Ingram went 3 for 5 with three runs, a homer, a double and three RBIs, and Angelo Zorn was 2 for 2 with a pair of doubles. 

Next Game: The Tigers are back in action on Sunday against Willamette at 10:30 a.m.