Stags Knock Down Poets in Doubleheader

By: Crawford Taylor CMC '15

CLAREMONT, CA – The CMS Stags hosted the Whittier Poets and won both games in their doubleheader Saturday.

Unlike their loss to Whittier the day before, the first game got off to a slow start.  Both teams had runners in scoring position early but neither were able to capitalize.  In the bottom of the eighth inning, outfielder Jason Rehhaut got on base.  A few batters later, second baseman Scott Witte was able to bat Rehhaut in and gave the Stags a 1-0 lead heading into the ninth. 

The Stags had the opportunity to clinch the win with a shutout, but were unable to do so.  Designated hitter Austin Strauss advanced home from third base off of a mishandled pitch to tie the game up. 

In the bottom of the ninth, outfielder J. J. Suttle was walked and subsequently got to second off of Dustin Green's sacrifice bunt.  Later, with two outs and the game on the line, Rehhaut stepped back up to bat and secured the game with a walk-off homerun.

In response the Poets rallied in the top of the sixth to add two runs of their own.  These were scored by third baseman Pete Mitchell and outfielder Andrew Vallejo off of catcher Nick Amicone's double.  The Stags retaliated in the eighth with Suttle scoring off of Dustin Green's RBI. 

Once again all that stood between the Stags and victory was a shutdown top of the ninth, and this time they did it.  Relief pitcher Matt Allan struck out Josh Genzuk and Strauss the first out.  The Stags closed out the game by retiring pinch hitter Daniel Vidales to win the game.

The Stags improve to 11-9 overall and 7-5 in conference play.  They are now in fourth place behind Cal Lutheran.  Whittier is now sixth in the conference (9-10, 5-7 SCIAC)

The Stags will host the California Invitation this upcoming Friday where they will host Berry at 10:30 followed by Ithaca at 2:30.