CMS Baseball Takes Two from George Fox, Opens Season With Series Win

CLAREMONT, Calif. - William DeForest was 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBI in the opener to support the strong pitching of Jarrett Korson in the opener, and Julian Sanders was 2-for-3 with a homer, a double, and four RBI in the nightcap to support the strong pitching of Ryan Warm in the nightcap, as the CMS baseball team took two games from George Fox, 14-4 and 9-4, on Saturday at Arce Field.

The sweep enables CMS to improve to 2-1 on the year after a 4-3 defeat to George Fox yesterday, bouncing back to take a series win in its first action since the 2020 season got suspended almost two full years ago. The second game was pre-determined to be seven innings due to daylight restrictions after the opener lasted three and a half hours. 

Korson allowed only two hits and no runs in 5.2 innings of work in the opener, striking out six and walking none. He came out of the game only due to a low early-season pitch count (71 pitches) as pitchers are slowly getting their arms back into competitive shape after a long layoff. Warm was also stellar on the mound in the nightcap, striking out nine batters in five innings and allowing three hits and just one earned run as he earned a win in his CMS debut. 

CMS took control of the opening game with a four-run third inning after the teams matched zeroes through the first three frames. Korson had a big effort in the second inning, striking out three straight batters with a runner on third and nobody out to keep the game scoreless. DeForest started the third inning rally with a single and, after Tyler Shaw singled to move him to third, Marco Castillo hit a sacrifice fly to put the Stags in front. 

Brandon Rho and Paul Roche singled to load the bases, and Evan Kelly hit a double to straightaway center to plate two runs and make it a 3-0 game. Roche then came home on a passed ball to stretch the lead to 4-0. 

DeForest added an insurance run in the fifth with a solo homer, the first of his career, which featured only 18 at-bats as a first year in 2020 before the shutdown. The Stags kept piling on, with Rho adding an RBI double in the fifth, DeForest tacking on an RBI single in the seventh and Castillo driving in a run on a hit by pitch to make it 11-0. Carson Bridges capped off the CMS scoring with a two-run double in the eighth to make it 14-3, before the Stags settled for the 14-4 win. 

Kelly finished 2-for-4 with three RBI for CMS, while Rho was 3-for-4, Castillo was 2-for-3, and Bridges was 2-for-4. PJ Wendler threw the final three innings for his first collegiate save. 

In the nightcap, CMS trailed for the first time all day after the Bruins pushed across a run in the top of the first, but the deficit didn't last long, as the stags responded with five runs in the bottom half.  Castillo and Rho started the rally with two one out singles, and Kelly walked to load the bases. A wild pitch tied the score, before Sanders had a two-run double to put CMS in front to stay. Nick Wilson followed with an RBI triple, and Jack Potter had a sacrifice fly to close out the five-run inning. 

Potter added an RBI double in the third to make it a 6-1 game, and after the Bruins got one run back, Shaw matched it with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth. Sanders then added on two more in the sixth when he crushed a homer to left field to make the score 9-2, before George Fox closed out the game with two harmless runs in the seventh. 

Wilson (2-for-3), Castillo (2-for-4), and Rho (2-for-4) each had multi-hit games in the nightcap. Lalo Beron also threw one inning of hitless relief in the sixth, striking out two, while Sanders finished off the game by throwing the seventh after his big day at the plate. 

CMS will be back in action in two weeks when it travels to Atlanta for a three-game series with Emory Feb. 18-20.