Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College baseball team held a slight 3-2 lead Wednesday at Memorial Field but couldn't hold on as they fell 6-4 to Rutgers-Newark.
This rounds out the non-conference portion of the schedule for the Purple & Gold as they finish the year 2-9 in these match-ups.
After three scoreless innings the Scarlett-Raiders struck for two in the fourth and fifth innings both coming on two outs and on singles by Josh Cote and Cameron Dias.
Whittier though would come back in the sixth to take the lead 3-2 coming on three hits. Ben Cerami (Berkeley, Calif.) doubled down the left field line and was followed by Cody Martinez (Whittier, Calif.) and Stephen Zavala (Whittier, Calif.) who both walked.
With bases loaded and nobody out, Dylan DeBrouwer (Manteca, Calif.) came through with a single to right that brought in two and Max Bradshaw (Salt Lake City, UT) followed with a single to third that plated another.
But the lead would be short-lived as a Dias single and a Gencarelli double would add another two for Rutgers-Newark that gave them back the lead 4-3.
In the seventh the Poets responded. Freshman Dmitri Washington (Peoria, AZ) would walk and moved to second on a stolen base. After a fly ball from Cerami that moved Washington up, Martinez came through with a single to right that knotted up the score at four.
But in the eighth, the Scarlett Raiders would get after Ben Moody (Santa Cruz, Calif.) bringing in the go ahead runs sparked by a double by Rowland Goodman and a Ryan MacFarlane stolen base that forced a throw down, which allowed Goodman to score from third.
These would be the final runs added as Rutgers-Newark would hold on for the two run victory.
Moody was tagged with the loss going 1.0 inning giving up two runs on three hits. Chas Bohannon picked up the win for the Scarlet Raiders going 0.2 innings, while Luis Rojas picked up the save throwing the final two innings with no hits given up.
Jonathan Whipple (Sandy, UT) finished 2-5 on the day. Martinez was 1-1 with a run scored and RBI, and DeBrouwer was 1-2 with two runs scored.
Whittier returns to the conference schedule this weekend as they open a three game series with Occidental. They travel this Friday, March 20 to Occidental with game time set for 3:00pm and will return home for a doubleheader the following day, Saturday, March 21 with first pitches slated for 11:00am and 2:30pm.
