CMS Baseball Defeats Pomona-Pitzer 18-12 in Series Opener, Stays in SCIAC Playoff Chase

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Needing to win all three games to earn a SCIAC Postseason Tournament bid, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team opened up its series with Pomona-Pitzer by scoring 18 runs on 19 hits and earning an 18-12 win on Friday afternoon.

The win improves CMS to 23-14 on the season and 13-9 in the SCIAC, while Pomona-Pitzer suffers its fifth loss in a row and falls to 26-9 and 14-8 in SCIAC play. The Stags can now pass the Sagehens with a doubleheader sweep at home tomorrow and earn the final spot in the SCIAC Tournament, while Pomona-Pitzer can secure the bid with a split. 

CMS used big innings to come away with the win, scoring eight times in the second to take an 8-2 lead and then five times in the fifth to go ahead 13-3. The Sagehens attempted to come back in the late innings, but CMS was able to respond to challenges with two runs in the seventh and three in the eighth to prevent Pomona-Pitzer from getting close enough to put the outcome in doubt. 

Brandon Rho was 4-for-7 with four RBI for the Stags, while Nick Wilson was 3-for-5 with four RBI, and Evan Kelly was 4-for-6 to pace the offense. 

Pomona-Pitzer led 2-0 after the first, but the Stags scored eight times with two outs in the top of the second. William DeForest drew a bases-loaded walk, and a throwing error allowed three runs to score. After Marco Castillo was hit by a pitch, Rho had an RBI single, Julian Sanders had an RBI double, and Nick Wilson had a two-run double to make it 8-2. 

Kallen Mueller started a five-run rally in the fifth with an RBI triple, and came home on an RBI single from Kelly. DeForest singled through the right side to plate the third run, and Rho capped the inning off with a two-run double. 

Pomona-Pitzer clawed back to 13-7 with four runs in the bottom of the sixth, but Rho and Wilson had back-to-back RBI singles to get two of those runs back in the seventh. A two-run single from Castillo and a bases-loaded walk from Wilson plated three runs in the eighth to push the lead to 18-9 after the Sagehens scored twice in the bottom of the seventh, and Pomona-Pitzer closed out the scoring with three runs in the ninth, ending a game that lasted over four hours. 

Jarrett Korson went 5.2 innings to get the win and improve to 8-2 on the year for the Stags, while Spencer McCann worked 1.2 innings of one-hit relief, including a scoreless eighth. CMS ended four innings with double plays on the day, including two lineouts where they doubled off runners, and a bases-loaded double play in the fourth with the score still 8-3. 

The final doubleheader of the regular season will take place tomorrow at 11 a.m. with both teams looking to punch their postseason tickets. CMS will also honor its seniors prior to the game for Senior Day, as the Class of 2022 will try to earn a trip to the postseason in the final regular season home games.