CMS Baseball Gets Back in Playoff Chase with Sweep of Occidental

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team made a key move up the SCIAC standings by taking all three games in its weekend series with Occidental, after winning both ends of a doubleheader 8-4 and 8-5 on Saturday at Arce Field.

With the sweep, CMS moves to 16-12 overall and 5-7 in the SCIAC, moving past Occidental (5-10) and into a tie for fifth, just two games out of fourth (the top four receive SCIAC Tournament bids). 

CMS trailed 4-1 in the opener after the Tigers scored four times in the fourth, but Diego Avila came out of the bullpen and shut Occidental down the rest of the way, allowing just two hits in five innings to get the win. The Stags were able to get one of the runs back in the bottom of the fourth on a Jack Potter RBI double, and then took the lead for good with three runs in the fifth. Evan Kelly led off with a solo homer, and Julian Sanders and Nick Wilson capped it off with RBI singles to give the Stags a 5-4 lead. 

Wilson added an insurance run in the sixth when he drew a bases-loaded walk, and Elijah Rejto added a sacrifice fly. 

In the nightcap, CMS again found itself behind 5-4 in the sixth, but Sanders had a clutch two-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to tie it 5-5. In the eighth, the Stags took advantage of some Occidental miscues to score three unearned runs, as Tyler Shaw scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch with two outs, Marco Castillo came home on a passed ball, and error pushed another run across. 

Spencer McCann then closed out his win in relief by retiring the side in the ninth, allowing just a harmless two-out single. McCann went the final three innings to get the win, allowing just two hits. Castillo finished 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Sanders was 3-for-5 with two RBI. 

CMS will try to further its move up the standings this weekend with a three-game series against Caltech, beginning with a home game on Friday.