WHITTIER, CA. (March 10, 2025)- The Poets took on the Cornell College Rams Monday in a non-conference bout. After falling behind early in this game, Whittier was able to rally the bats and keep the Cornell lineup quiet. The Purple and Gold pulled away in the final innings and walked out with a 10-6 victory.
Whittier got off to a fast start in this game, scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Collin O'Driscoll (Belmont, Calif., College of San Mateo) led things off with a single to second base, before
Sevon Battle (Las Vegas, Nev., Baker College) drew a walk. Then both runners accomplished a double steal to make put 2 runners in scoring position. The Rams then elected to intentionally walk
Joe Plaskett (Fremont, Calif., Washington) to load the bases for
Ian Watanabe (Lodi, Calif., Lodi). Watanabe got a ball up in the zone and hit a SAC fly to left field to bring O'Driscoll in to score. The next batter
Maximus Berber (Riverside, Calif., Ramona) singled to left field and brought Battle around to score. This hit extended the Poets lead to 2-0.
The Rams were able to strike back in the second though scoring 4 runs and taking the lead in this game. However, Whittier was not going to go away in this game. In the bottom of the third O'Driscoll led things off with a walk. Then Battled singled to the pitcher and moved O'Driscoll to third on a throwing error.
Matthew Mecate (Highland, Calif., CSU Dominguez Hills) then got in on the action hitting a SAC fly to center field and bring the score to 4-3 Rams.
In the bottom of the fourth the Purple and Gold recaptured the lead with a big inning. Berber started the inning off with a walk, before
Andrew Griffin (Colton, Calif., San Bernardino Valley) and
Gama Martinez (Highland, Calif., Arrowhead Christian) singled to load the bases. After recording 2 outs, Battle and Mecate cleaned things up with back-to-back doubles. Whittier scored 4 runs in this inning to take a 7-4 lead.
The back-and-forth scoring continued in the top of the sixth, as Cornell plated 2 more runs to bring this to a 1 run ballgame. After six innings of play the Poets were on top 7-6.
With the game still tight, Berber wanted to put it out of reach for the Rams. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Mecate singled and Plaskett was hit-by-pitch to put runners at first and second for Whittier. Then Berber stepped to the plate and hit a monster shot over the left field fence, for his first home run of the season. This would extend the Poets lead to 10-6.
The scoring would end their for the day, as
Jackson Salinas (Oxnard, Calif., Oxnard College),
Lukas Long (Stockton, Calif., Bear Creek), and
Diego Lopez (San Jose, Calif., West Valley College) were able to pitch 3.1 scoreless innings to secure the Poet victory.
Salinas, Long, and Lopez combined for 4 strikeout in this game as they did not surrender a run. Battle, Mecate, Berber, Griffin, and
Coehn Nakasone (Aiea, Hawaii, Mid-Pacific) provided 2 hits a piece for the Poets, as Whittier totalled 15 in this game.
This was a great team win for the Poets as they were clicking on all cylinders. They will look to continue this streak, as they take on the Franklin and Marshall College Diplomats Tuesday (March 11th) at 2:00. Make sure to come out to Hugh B. Mendez Stadium to support your Poets.
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