CMS Baseball Falls in Non-League Game at Pomona-Pitzer

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Pomona-Pitzer baseball team scored five runs in the seventh to break open a close game and take a 9-3 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Monday afternoon in a non-SCIAC game at Alumni Field.

CMS and Pomona-Pitzer were both scheduled to play non-league games against Ithaca and Wesleyan, respectively, but both schools elected not to travel and the two SCIAC teams faced each other instead for a game that didn't count towards the league standings. CMS falls to 6-7 with the loss, while the Sagehens improve to 10-5. 

Senior shortstop Zach Clarke and first-year first baseman Miles Cook were each 2-for-5 with an RBI at the plate for the Stags. Brandon Mitchell struck out six, including all three batters he faced in the third, but suffered the loss. 

Sophomore left fielder Brandon Rho gave CMS the first run of the game on a single up the middle with two outs, to score sophomore third baseman Evan Kelly, who walked. After senior catcher Truman Miller singled, Rho found the hole between second and short to score Kelly with the game's first run. 

The score held until the bottom of the fourth, when the Sagehens struck for two runs, but the Stags answered right back in the fifth when junior second baseman Patrick Gavin was hit by a pitch and came home on Cook's double down the line. For the second straight inning, though, CMS had the bases loaded and were unable to its run total.  

The Sagehens scored twice with two outs to take a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth, before CMS cut it to 4-3 on an RBI double from Clarke. Senior center fielder Henri Levenson followed with a single to left, but Clarke was thrown out at the plate trying to score the tying run. First-year Cade Kritsch doubled in the seventh and was left on base, and the Sagehens broke it open with five in the bottom half. 

CMS had 11 hits on the day, as Miller (2-for-4) joined Clarke and Cooke with multi-hit games, but the Stags left 14 runners on base, including at least two in each of the first five innings. 

CMS will be back in action on Thursday when it takes on La Verne on the road in another non-SCIAC game. That contest will take the place of the second home game that the Stags had scheduled with Ithaca, prior to the Bombers canceling their trip.