CMS Baseball Opens Season with 9-2 Win over George Fox

LA VERNE, Calif. - Paul Roche homered and had three RBI, and Jarrett Korson struck out nine with no walks in 5.2 innings as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team opened its 2023 season with a 9-2 win over George Fox on Friday at La Verne's Ben Hines Field.

Jack Potter was 2-for-4 with three runs scored for the Stags, who got their season started on a high note. A year ago, CMS lost the opener to George Fox 5-4, but came back to win the next two and take the series. 

Korson got the season started off on the right foot, striking out the first two George Fox batters in a 1-2-3 inning. Derek Seneker then had a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the first to key a three-run inning and get the Stags in control early. 

With two outs in the second, Potter doubled off the wall in left, and Nick Wilson followed with an RBI single to stretch the lead to 4-0. Roche then hit a two-run shot in the fifth, clearing the left-field wall to make it a 6-0 game. 

Korson threw five shutout innings, leaving a runner stranded on third in the fifth, but came out with two outs in the sixth after a pair of RBI hits with two outs. Bryant Smaaladen came in to get the third out, and worked the seventh and the eighth to keep it a 6-2 game. 

The Stags put it out of reach in the eighth with three more runs, as Mitchell Mashiko scored on a wild pitch, Wilson had a sacrifice fly, and Roche had a two-out RBI single. Andrew Blackett worked the ninth and struck out two George Fox hitters to finish it out, as the three Stag pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts and no walks on the day. 

CMS and George Fox will continue their three-game series tomorrow with a doubleheader at Biola, beginning at 10:30 a.m.