WHITTIER, Calif. - Ryan
Schwenn improved his season record to 3-3 with a complete
game effort on the mound on Sunday afternoon as he led the Whittier
College baseball team to a 10-8 win over Southern California
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe University of Redlands. The
Bulldogs responded in Game 2 with an 11-6 win to even the season
series between WC and UR at two games apiece.
The Poets (11-23, 5-10 SCIAC) collected 15 hits and scored in
all but three innings of the first game. Whittier responded to a
one-run first inning by the Bulldogs (22-12, 12-6 SCIAC) with a
pair of runs. Lorenzo Lopez singled to score
Reed Tuttle and an error by Redlands allowed
Anthony Cappelletti to cross home and give WC the
lead.
The purple and gold were held scoreless in the second inning but
pushed four runs across the plate in the third inning to take a 6-2
lead. Back-to-back doubles by Andrew Vallejo and
Cappelletti put runners on first and second with one-out. Lopez
picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly and Michael
Benavente doubled in Cappelletti to give WC a 4-2
advantage.
Austin Straus kept the inning alive with an RBI
triple and he scored one batter later on an RBI single by
John Fugazi.
Redlands answered the Poets' third with four runs in the top of
the fourth. WC reclaimed the lead a half inning later and never
looked back. Lopez hit a two-out double that scored Taylor
Fallon and Cappelletti and through four innings Whittier
led 8-7.
The teams traded runs in the fifth inning and WC took a 10-8
lead in the seventh as Reed Tuttle singled home
Fallon who hit a two-out triple. Redlands cut the lead to two runs
at 10-8 in the top of the eighth but that was as close as they
would get.
Schwenn sat the Bulldogs down in order in the ninth inning to
secure the win. He allowed eight runs (four earned) on eight hits
and struck out one.
Cappelletti went 4-for-4 with three runs scored and Lopez drove
in a game-high four runs with a 2-for-3 effort. Five different
Poets had at least two hits in the win.
Redlands got off to a quick start in the second game with a run
in each the first and second innings. Whittier cut the lead in half
in the bottom of the third on an RBI triple by Vallejo but the
Bulldogs scored four runs combined in the fifth and sixth inning to
take a 6-1 lead.
Whittier held the Bulldogs scoreless in the seventh and then
tied the game in its half of the seventh with a five-run effort.
The first three batters of the inning reached base before
Redlands went to the bullpen. Pete Mitchell drove
in the first run on a sacrifice fly and after Redlands recorded the
second out of the inning on a strike out Tuttle reached base on an
infield hit to load the bases. Vallejo picked up two more RBIs with
single through the right side and Cappelletti cleared the bases
with a two-RBI double.
The Poet momentum was short lived as Redlands scored three runs
in the eighth inning and tacked on two more insurance runs in the
ninth.
Kevin Pigott started Game 2 for Whittier and
went 5.2 innings and allowed six runs (five earned) on 13 hits.
Martin Bueno was tagged with loss. He went 1.2
innings and allowed three runs on two hits. Mike
Hachadorian went the final inning and two-thirds.
The Poets return to action next weekend, April 24 and 25,
against Occidental for a weekend series. The teams will play the
single game on Friday, April 24, at Occidental and return to
Memorial Field for the twin bill on Saturday, April 25.
