Offense comes up big on spring break trip to Tucson

TUCSON, Ariz. – Over its spring break trip to Arizona, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team went 2-1 and scored 37 runs over three games as the team registered wins over Carleton (9-8) and Middlebury (21-5) at the Tucson Tournament March 21 and 22. CMS improved to 8-16 on the season. With the wins, head coach Randy Town is just two wins short of 500 for his career at CMS as head coach which dates back to 1988.

CMS 9, Carleton 8 (March 21)
After giving up a run in the top of the first inning, the Stags put up an eight spot in the bottom of the inning to take what appeared to be a commanding 8-1 lead over Carleton. In the inning, sophomore designated hitter Mackenzie Menthen, senior third baseman Michael Erb and senior first baseman Ray Hurwitz each had RBI hits in the inning. Sophomore centerfielder Andrew Burgard followed with a two-run single and then senior shortstop Scott Witte capped off the inning with a two-run triple to right-center field. On the play Witte came in and scored the eighth run of the inning on a throwing error.

Carleton got a run back in the top of the fourth inning and then made a game of it in the later innings with a pair of runs in the eighth and four runs in the ninth inning to narrow the CMS lead to 9-8.

Catcher Evan Opperman came up with what ended up being the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the seventh as he brought home Scott Witte from third with a groundout to the shortstop.

Senior starter Chad Hadzinsky (2-5) got the win for CMS and pitched eight innings and allowed four runs, two earned, while senior Andor Kesselman pitched a scoreless ninth for his fourth save of the season.

Box score

Carthage 7, CMS 6 (March 22)
Statistics for this game were not available at the time of this release.

CMS 21, Middlebury 5 (March 22)
CMS closed out its trip with a big win over Middlebury as the Stags scored runs in six of the nine innings to score 21 runs and register 20 hits. The Stags led for the duration as they scored a run in the first inning on a RBI single by Menthen and never looked back. Menthen went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI in the game. CMS then added four runs in the second inning and two runs in the third inning to jump ahead 7-1.

In the top of the sixth, the Stags broke the game open with 11 runs on 10 hits. Sophomore second baseman Jack Witte got the scoring started with a three-run homer to right. Scott Witte also brought home three runners in the inning with a three-run double to center. Five other individuals (Hurwitz, freshman Traven Tapson, junior Christian Hoxsie, junior Michael Gose and sophomore Samuel O'Braitis) had an RBI in the inning.

Scott Witte went 5-for-6 in the game with five RBI and four runs scored to lead the Stags. Sophomore Samuel Woodman pitched five innings, struck out four and allowed just four hits and two runs over five innings to get the win. Junior John Rizzo, sophomore Troy Odo and freshman Sam Baughman each pitched scoreless innings in relief for CMS.

Box score

Next up for CMS are single games against Pacific Lutheran at Arce Field on March 28 and 29.

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