CMS Baseball Breaks it Open Late for 13-5 Win over Occidental

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team broke open a game that was tied 5-5 after six innings with a five-run seventh and went on to a 13-5 win over Occidental on Friday in the first game of a three-game series.

With the win, the Stags now stand at 22-7 overall and 12-4 in the SCIAC, moving to within two games of first-place La Verne (14-2), which dropped its series opener to second-place Chapman (13-3). 

Nick Wilson led CMS by going 4-for-6 with three RBI, while Julian Sanders was 2-for-4 with three RBI, and Jarrett Korson allowed two earned runs over six innings to get the win. 

Bryce Didrickson led off the pivotal five-run seventh with a double, and Mitchell Mashiko reached on an error to put runners on second and third with nobody out. William DeForest gave CMS the lead for good with an RBI single, and Jack Potter followed one out later with an RBI single to make it 7-5.

After Sanders was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Paul Roche had an RBI groundout, and Wilson had an RBI single. Didrickson then capped off the seventh inning with a bases-loaded walk, and Sanders extended the lead to 12-5 in the eighth with a two-run single. Shaw added an RBI single in the ninth

CMS jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning after the first five batters all reached. Tyler Shaw led off with a single, Potter walked, and Sanders had an RBI double. After Roche was hit by a pitch, Wilson had a two-run single to make it 3-0 and Didrickson followed with an RBI single to first base. Mashiko had an RBI single in the third to answer an Occidental run and make it 5-1, but the Tigers were able to score three times in the third and once in the fifth to get back even. 

DeForest (2-for-3, RBI), Shaw (3-for-6, RBI), Didrickson (2-for-5, 2 RBI), and Mashiko (2-for-5, RBI) joined Wilson and Sanders in having multi-hit games for the Stags, who finished with 16 hits as a team. Hamilton Finefrock threw the seventh and Henry Connell finished out the eighth and ninth for CMS bullpen, which allowed no runs and one hit in three innings of work. 

The two teams will be in action tomorrow when they complete their three-game series with a doubleheader at Pomona-Pitzer at 11 a.m.