CMS Baseball Stretches Win Streak to Five in 9-4 Victory over Centenary

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Carson Bridges ignited the Stags with a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to give CMS a 6-1 advantage and closer Lalo Beron came out of the bullpen early to pitch out of a key bases loaded jam in the seventh, as the CMS baseball team earned a 9-4 victory over the Centenary Gents on Monday at Arce Field.

With the win, CMS improves to 7-2 on the season while Centenary falls to 6-7 overall on the year with the loss.

Stags pitcher PJ Wendler made his first collegiate start, pitching six innings and earning the win while only allowing one run on five hits. Jack Potter was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, and had one RBI, Brandon Rho was 2-for-4 with one RBI, while Aidan Booth, Nick Wilson and Cade Kritsch all added one hit apiece to go along with one RBI.

Rho singled to center field in the bottom of the first, bringing home Tyler Shaw for a 1-0 lead. Castillo then scored on a passed ball, and Booth brought Potter home off a sacrifice fly to help take a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Bridges broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth when he homered to right field, sending Potter and Julian Sanders home to give CMS a five run advantage at 6-1. 

Centenary bounced back after the three-run homer from Bridges to score three times in the top of the seventh to close the gap to 6-4. The Gents had the bases loaded with one out, when Beron, the team's usual closer, came out of the bullpen early to record two huge outs, getting a shallow fly ball to left and then ending the inning with a big strikeout to keep it a 6-4 game.

Kritsch singled to left field in the bottom of the seventh, allowing Kallen Mueller to score, who led off the inning with a single. Wilson then reached first on an error and pinch-runner Paul Roche scored to extend the CMS lead to 8-4. Potter provided the final run by singling to shortstop, bringing pinch-runner Thanio Bright in to home plate for a commanding 9-4 advantage. 

Beron pitched the eighth and struck out two more batters, before giving way to Spencer McCann for the ninth, and McCann closed the door by striking out the side. He ended the game with eight straight strikes, bouncing back from a 3-1 count for his first strikeout, and then retiring the final two batters on three pitches.

CMS will return to action on Friday as they travel to take on Chapman at 2:30 p.m. in its SCIAC opener, before hosting the Panthers in a Saturday double-header beginning at 11 a.m. to cap its three-game series.