Stags Use the Long Ball to Take 16-6 Win over Occidental

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Adam Dapkewicz hit a grand slam, Julian Sanders hit a three-run shot, Jack Potter hit a two-run homer, and Andrew Mazzone added a solo blast as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team took a 16-6 win over Occidental on Friday at Pomona-Pitzer's Alumni Field.

With the win, CMS moves to 21-10 overall and 9-7 in the SCIAC, pulling within one game of fourth-place Chapman in a tight battle for the SCIAC Tournament bids, with eight games still left to play, as first-place La Verne (12-4) and fifth-place CMS (9-7) are separated by only three games, with Pomona-Pitzer (11-5), Cal Lutheran (13-6) and Chapman (10-6) in between. Occidental falls to 10-24 overall and 6-13 in the SCIAC with the loss. 

CMS opened with a six-run first inning, as Sanders hit a three-run shot and Potter added a two-run blast before Occidental was able to record its first out. Tyler Shaw led off with a single and Mazzone was hit by a pitch, before Sanders homered to center to give CMS a 3-0 lead. After an error, Potter made it a two-homer inning to push the lead to 5-0, and Blaise Heher plated Dapkewicz with a sacrifice fly to make it a 6-0 game.

Occidental made it 6-1 in the third, but Mazzone got that run back with a solo shot, extending his CMS record with his 17th of the season. The Stags then broke it open with a six-run fifth, as Sanders drew a bases-loaded walk, Dillon Martin had a sacrifice fly, and Dapkewicz belted a grand slam to right to put CMS ahead 14-3. 

Occidental was able to get within 10 runs with a two-run sixth, but CMS was able to enforce the 10-run rule in the eighth inning on a pinch-hit RBI double from Joey Wilson. 

Dapkewicz finished with five RBI for the second straight game, adding a sacrifice fly to his grand slam, after going 4-for-4 with five RBI in the series finale against Redlands on Saturday. Sanders was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and four RBI, and Rider Gordon added a three-hit game, going 3-for-5 with an RBI. 

Parker McGraw got the win for CMS, going 5.2 innings, while Ethan Hemby and Henry Connell closed out the game with a combined 1.2 innigs of hitless relief. 

The two teams will finish their three-game series tomorrow with a doubleheader at Oxy, beginning at 11 a.m.