Seneker Hits Walk-Off Homer in Opener, as CMS Baseball Splits with Lewis & Clark

AZUSA, Calif. - Derek Seneker hit a walk-off three-run homer, and Nick Wilson added two homers, including a grand slam, and had six RBI as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team came back from a 9-2 deficit to win the opening game of a doubleheader with Lewis & Clark 11-10 on Saturday afternoon at Azusa Pacific.

Lewis & Clark bounced back to win the nightcap 15-7 to win the series, and improve to 6-1 on the season, while CMS sees its record move to 4-2. 

Wilson got CMS started with a two-run homer in the first inning, but the Pioneers came back with nine unanswered. A six-run seventh inning got the Stags right back in it, keyed by a Wilson grand slam to close the gap to 9-7. Cade Kritsch followed with an RBI single to make it just a one-run game. 

Lewis & Clark got a run back with a solo homer from Brennen Davis in the eighth, and the score stayed at 10-8 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Paul Roche started the inning off with a single, and one out later, Mitchell Mashiko singled to center to put two runners on. After a pitching change, Seneker sent a blast over the left field wall to end the game and give the Stags the dramatic comeback win. 

Hamilton Finefrock threw a scoreless ninth to get the win for CMS and improve to 2-0 on the season. Wilson finished the game 4-for-5 with his two homers and six RBI, while Roche was 3-for-5, and Seneker 2-for-5. 

In the nightcap, CMS trailed 8-1 after a seven-run Pioneer fourth, but looked poised for another big comeback after scoring one in the fourth and three in the fifth to get back to within 8-5. Julian Sanders hit a solo homer to cut it to 8-2, and Elijah Rejto, who opened the CMS scoring with a solo homer, had a sacrifice fly in the fifth. That was followed by a Seneker RBI double and a Shaw RBI single to close to 8-5. 

After Lewis & Clark came back with a three-run sixth, Seneker had another RBI double in the bottom half and Jack Potter had an RBI single to close it to 11-7, but the Stags left the bases loaded, and the Pioneers were able to put it away with a four-run eighth.

Seneker was 3-for-4 with two RBI in the nightcap, while Potter was 2-for-3. Jake Tracey, Pieter van Wingerden and Ethan Chen each threw scoreless innings out of the bullpen, while Finefrock threw another two-thirds without allowing a run.  

CMS will be back in action when it travels to Texas next weekend for three games at Texas Lutheran, including a neutral site game with Texas-Dallas.