CMS Baseball Defeats Top-Seeded La Verne in SCIAC Tournament, Finishes as Runner-Up

LA VERNE, Calif. - Bryce Didrickson hit a two-run single and Adam Dapkewicz hit a two-run homer as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team eliminated top-seeded La Verne 4-1 on Saturday morning to advance to the championship round of the SCIAC Postseason Tournament, before falling to Pomona-Pitzer 11-6 to end as the runner-up.

With the split of the day, CMS now stands at 30-13, tying the program record for wins set in 1972. The Stags will await a possible selection to the NCAA Division III Tournament when the brackets are announced on Monday. 

Dapkewicz added his second home run of the day against Pomona-Pitzer to tie the score 3-3 in the fourth, after the Sagehens jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first. CMS went ahead 4-3 in the top of the fifth, but Pomona-Pitzer scored five times in the bottom half and held on for the 11-6 win and the league title. The Sagehens will receive the league's automatic bid, while both La Verne and CMS will be in contention for at-larges.

The Stags helped their chances with a quality road win over La Verne, taking an elimination game 4-1 over the regular season league champions. The win also gave CMS a 3-1 head-to-head advantage over the Leopards, all in the last week, should the two teams compete for one bid.

CMS had a quality combined pitching effort from four players, with Jackson Hisey starting and going 3.2 innings, allowing just one run. Henry Connell then came on in relief to throw 1.1 innings to get the win. Stryker Scales threw the sixth and seventh, allowing just one hit for a hold, and Vitaly DiBlasi threw the final two innings to get the save, getting the final out via strikeout to end it. 

The Stags broke the ice in the fourth when Dillon Martin walked and went to second on a sacrifice bunt from Jack Potter, and then to third on a fly ball from Dapkewicz. Rider Gordon walked and went to second on a wild pitch, and Didrickson played two runs with a single to center. 

After La Verne got a run back, Potter singled with one out in the sixth and stole second, before Dapkewicz drove a ball over the right-field fence to make it a 4-1 game. The CMS bullpen did not allow a runner past first base over the final three innings to finish off the win, while Potter and Gordon were each 2-for-3.

Potter also got CMS on the board with a two-out RBI double in the fourth inning to make the score 3-1, before Dapkewicz tied it with a two-run shot. Tyler Shaw's RBI single in the fifth temporarily put the Stags up 4-3, before the Sagehens had a five-run fifth, on a three-run homer from Jack Gold and a two-run double from JC Ng. 

The Stags had a bid to get right back in it in the sixth, as Dapkewicz drove in his third run with an RBI groundour, as Martin beat the throw home. With the bases loaded and nobody out, though, an unlucky flared line drive in the infield resulted in a diving catch from Jimmy Legg at third and a double play. 

Martin was 2-for-2 with three runs scored, while four other Stags went 2-for-4 (Dapkewicz, Potter, Gordon, and Didrickson).

CMS will await the announcement of whether its season will continue when the NCAA selection show takes place on Monday.