WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College baseball team returned to SCIAC play Friday afternoon against the University of Redlands but came away with an 11-5 loss to open the three game series.

Whittier now drops to 8-11, 6-4 SCIAC, while Redlands improves to 10-9. 

The Poets had an early opportunity to get on the board in the 1^st inning after Alex Mitchell led off with a double but in an attempt to stretch it into a triple he was gunned down from left field keeping the Poets scoreless.

But this wouldn't keep them from tallying the first run of the game as they answered in the 2^nd.  Julian Barzilli led off the inning with a double to right center and was driven in by Willie Renard who doubled down the right field line.  This gave the Poets an early 1-0 lead while starting Poet pitcher Ben Cerami continued to mow down Bulldog batters keeping the lead until the 4^th when Redlands took a 2-1 lead when Sean McMillan singled to right center.

This lead would be short-lived though for UR as Renard would again bring home Barzilli with a double to center that evened the game at two.

But the offense didn't stop there as both programs combined to add seven runs in the 5^th.  Redlands added four in the top half getting six straight singles and would have added more except for the rare triple play rolled by the Purple & Gold that ended the rally. 

Whittier however bounced back in there half of the inning getting three runs back.  After back to back walks to Christian Loera and Mitchell the Poets saw Stephen Zavala single to second, Barzilli double to right center, and Jonathan Whipple single up the middle that pulled the Poets within one.

After a scoreless 6^th, Redlands added two insurance runs in the 7^th thanks to two singles from Connor Hanco and Christian He and then added another three in the 9^th sparked by a solo shot to open the frame.  

The Poets were held scoreless over the final four innings and Cerami was charged with the loss now dropping his record to 1-4.  Barzilli led the offense finishing 3-4 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Renard finished 2-4 with two runs batted in.  

The Poets wrap up the three game series with Redlands tomorrow, Saturday, March 16 with game times set for 11:00am and 2:30pm.