Baughman & Anderson take Stags past No. 12 Oxy

CLAREMONT, Calif. – For the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team's eighth SCIAC win, the Stags beat No. 12 Occidental 6-2 on Wednesday afternoon at Arce Field in the first SCIAC Round Robin game. Junior Sam Baughman (CMC) pitched five scoreless innings and ultimately only allowed two runs for his fifth win on the season.

The Stags were up against Oxy's Will Martel who came into the game at 8-1 with a 2.05 ERA. The three strikeouts that started CMS' offensive half of the first inning did not dampen the Stags' spirit nor their bats for the rest of the game. Not considering the first inning, CMS had 11 hits in seven innings.

Sophomore Nolan Anderson (CMC) earned the first hit of the day for CMS on a double to left field. With one out, junior Evan Opperman (CMC) singled to right on a high ball that fell in between the sprinting second baseman and right fielder, leading to freshman Nick DeGallier (CMC) and sophomore Alex Clemens (CMC) each earning RBI on identical singles through the middle of the infield as the Stags led 2-0 after two innings.

CMS scored again in the bottom of the fourth as Anderson tripled down the right field line on a ball that just escaped the glove of the reaching first baseman to lead off the inning. Anderson came across the plate as freshman Mitchell Allan (CMC) singled up the middle for only his third RBI of the season.

With the 3-0 lead, the Stags' offense did not let up. In the fifth, freshman Ryan Motter (CMC) got on with a single, put himself in scoring position with a stolen base and then was driven in by sophomore Trey Smith (CMC). For his third hit of the day, Anderson then smacked his second homer of the year to give CMS the 6-0 advantage.

While the Stags would not score any more, the defense continued to keep the Tigers at bay, holding them to two runs in the final four innings.

Behind Baughman, the CMS infield played errorless ball and turned two double plays. To get out of a bases loaded jam after consecutive hit batters in the second inning, Baughman forced a grounder to Clemens at second base to end the inning. The first double play came on a liner to Clemens who then threw to senior MacKenzie Menthen (CMC) at first to catch the runner off. In the final play of the game, sophomore reliever John O'Malley (CMC) induced a ground ball to senior Jack Witte (CMC) who went to second for a classic 6-4-3 double play. Another defensive gem was a diving catch by Allan in left field in the seventh inning for the second out.

In two innings of work, O'Malley struck out one and maintained the Stags' lead to secure the win.

Out of playoff contention, CMS plays three more single games to finish off the season. On Saturday, April 30, they travel across the street to face off with Pomona-Pitzer (who they swept earlier in the season) at 11 a.m. and then play at Chapman on Sunday, May 1 at 3 p.m. before returning home to go against Redlands at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 4.

Box Score

By Emily Nordhoff
Sports Information Director

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