Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Whittier college baseball team continues making history as they completed a series sweep of Pomona-Pitzer Saturday 15-9 and 9-0 en route to winning their ninth straight game the longest winning streak in Head Coach Mike Rizzo's tenure at Whittier College.
The Poets remain in first place in the SCIAC standings as they improve to 9-5, 9-0 SCIAC, while Pomona-Pitzer drops to 5-12, 4-8 SCIAC.
Game 1 (W, 15-9)
The Poets won a slugfest in game one scoring 15 runs on 14 hits. They added two runs in the first behind a two run shot from Julian Barzilli and they never looked back adding five in the second capped off with a three run shot from Corey Jensen, his first of the season.
They would add another four in the fourth with two singles from Barzilli and Ben Cerami and would add insurance in the fifth from Jensen who singled in Graham Pimm. But the Purple & Gold weren't done there as they would add another two in the ninth with back to back singles from Jonathan Whipple and Pimm that put the game out of reach.
Curtis Martin got the start and earned the win, his third on the season going 6.0 innings giving up six runs on 11 hits, while Lane Miles got tagged with the loss dropping to 2-2 surrendering 11 runs (5 Earned) on nine hits.
Jensen and Barzilli each finished 2-4 with two runs scored and four runs batted in, while Whipple finished 2-4 with four runs scored and an RBI.
Game 2 (W, 9-0)
Whittier kept the bats hot in game two as Justin Cheatham threw a complete game shutout picking up his third win on the season surrendering just eight hits. The Poets added two in the first thanks to a Barzilli two run shot to center and that's all they would need to secure the sweep as they would add two in the third, four in the fourth, and one in the seventh to pick up their ninth straight win.
Stephen Zavala doubled down the left field line in the third bringing in a pair, before a Pimm double and a Jensen single in the fourth extended the Poet lead. Then in the seventh, Armando Valdez would add the final blow with a single that plated Cerami giving the Poets the lopsided victory.
Valdez led the offense finishing 3-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while Pimm finished 2-4 with two runs scored and two runs batted in.
Whittier returns to the diamond tomorrow, Sunday, March 9 when they host Ithaca College beginning at 3:00pm.
