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LOS ANGELES — Nolan McCarthy was good again on the hill, Oxy's bullpen continues to pitch well and Nolan Upchurch hit his first career homer run as the Occidental baseball team beat a good Centenary (La.) squad 4-1 at Anderson Field on Friday afternoon.

McCarthy, an All-American in 2019, went six innings with just one earned run against him, four strikeouts, no walks and five hits. 

Oxy's bullpen was nearly perfect after McCarthy checked out of the game in the seventh. Max Sterner pitched two scoreless and then Diego Ramirez came on for the save to make it three innings without a run.

Sterner has been impressive this year with a 1.89 ERA in 19 innings pitched. 

Upchurch, a first year shortstop who has been playing well, homered in the bottom of the fifth to put Oxy up 3-1.

The Tigers scored their first run in the second on a ground out from Angelo Zorn that brought in Michael Ingram and then their second when Antonio Andrade singled in Jake Fredrickson.

Oxy added an insurance run in the sixth when Gus Patrick hit a sacrifice fly that scored Ingram again.

Centenary (La.) scored its run on a solo homer off the bat of Tyler Welch in the fifth.

Fredrickson finished the game 2 for 3 with a run scored.

Season Impact: Oxy improves to 5-5 on the season.

Centenary (La.) falls to 7-3.

Next Game: The Tigers play at Redlands on Sunday at 1 p.m. in a non-conference game. Oxy returns to SCIAC play on March 6 with a home game against Whittier.