Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier baseball team put together a furious rally but fell two runs short as No. 22 Pomona-Pitzer held off the purple and gold, 14-12, Sunday afternoon at Memorial Field.
The Sagehens (25-10, 15-9 SCIAC) exploded for 13 runs in their first three at bats before Whittier began to mount its comeback.
Andrew Vallejo, who finished the afternoon 4-for-6 with four RBIs, doubled in Taylor Fallon in the bottom of the third to put the Poets on the board.
One inning later, Nathan Mendez cleared the bases with a grand slam to left field while Dan Gleiberman drew a bases loaded walk to score Alex Gast. Whittier couldn't push anymore runs across the plate as the Sagehens got out of the bases loaded threat with a strike out.
In the home half of the seventh the Poets were at it again. Whittier (16-19, 8-16 SCIAC) did its damage with two outs as Mendez and Fallon reached bases. Vallejo took care of the rest as he cleared the left field wall with a three-run homer to trim the deficit to 13-9.
Pomona-Pitzer added one run in the eighth to push its lead back to five before the Poets brought the potential game winning run to the plate.
The ninth frame started with a walk to Reed Tuttle. Two batters later, Vallejo hit a chopper to the second basemen that was misplayed allowing Tuttle to cut the lead to 14-10.
After Alex Mitchell drew a walk, Gast loaded the bases with a single to left field. Gleiberman drove in Vallejo with a single up the middle and a wild pitch plated Mitchell to pull the Poets within two.
With tying run on second base, Nick Amicone's grounder up the middle couldn't get past the shortstop as Pomona-Pitzer finally sealed the win.
As a team, the Poets collected 15 hits. Gleiberman finished 3-for-4 while Tuttle, Fallon and Gast all had two hits.
Curtis Martin threw strong out of the pen for head coach Mike Rizzo. Martin allowed just one run (unearned) in 3.1 innings of work. Austin Straus was tagged with the loss. The junior lefty gave up six runs (four earned) in 0.2 innings.
The Sagehens scored six runs in the first and added five in the second.
Whittier returns to action next Friday afternoon as it travels to Eagle Rock to face Occidental at 3 pm.
