Photo by samsphotoservices.com

Los Angeles, CA— The Occidental baseball team got their season officially underway in a matchup with the Providence Christian Sea Beggars on Saturday morning.

The Sea Beggars were able to strike first in the 2nd inning after a single and a sacrifice bunt had a runner in scoring position and another single brought in the game's first run. Providence scored again after a double and a balk put a runner on 3rd base and an errant throw home on a ground ball had the Sea Beggars up 2-0 early.

The Providence starting pitcher had been keeping the Tiger bats quiet for the first 4 innings of play, but the Tigers got on the board in the 5th inning. After Tyler Kubo singled to right field and stole second and third base, Jeffery Cambra came up to bat with 2 outs and a runner in scoring position. 

Cambra came through big for Oxy, getting a pitch that caught too much of the plate and sending a majestic shot over the left field wall to tie the game at 2 runs apiece. Both teams would struggle to put hits together for the next few innings until the Tigers came up to abt in the bottom of the 8th. 

With one out, Ryan Cacatian singled to left field and Garrett Palme followed with a single of his own to put two runners on. Alex Henderson then came up with 2 outs and got the clutch go-ahead single through the left side of the infield to bring home Cacatian and give Oxy a 3-2 lead. 

Chris Martinez came in looking to close the door for Oxy, and after a lead off walk he got the next batter to roll into a double play to get two quick outs in the inning. Martinez got the final out of the game on a ground ball to himself and Oxy secured the 3-2 win in the first game of the year. 

Declan Sklut picked up the win for Oxy, firing 4 scoreless relief innings and striking out 6 batters. The Tigers looked to carry the momentum into the second game of the double header on Saturday against the Sea Beggars.