On the afternoon of Friday, March 22, Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) baseball bats turned hot, securing a 12-run, seven inning mercy in the first game of a SCIAC series against Occidental, putting a stamp on a successful week for the Sagehens, who are currently ranked 13th nationally by D3baseball.com.
Looking to cap off a week during which the Hens took a series win from Tufts University, as well as routing Division I program Dartmouth College, Jake Hilton PO ’25 delivered yet another dominating start to tame the Tigers.
Coming off of a non-conference outing against Tufts University that saw him pick up his first loss of the season, Hilton returned in emphatic fashion, shutting down Oxy in a seven inning, four hit, complete game win, the second of his collegiate career.
While Hilton and the Sagehens offensive coasted to a 12-1 win, it was the Tigers who looked to strike first. Although they currently find themselves at the bottom of the SCIAC, Oxy’s offense is still formidable, featuring the SCIAC’s home run leader Alex Henderson. Despite getting Henderson to pop-up in the second, Hilton found himself in deep trouble, with two runners on base and only one out. However, Hilton was able to compose himself and with the help of a fantastic double play effort from Jack Gold PO ’27, ended the inning with no runs conceded.
Hilton expressed his gratitude for the team’s defensive ability.
“Yeah, I definitely got a bit lucky there,” Hilton said. “I mean it’s a big thing for us and it’s great to be able to put a lot of trust in them. They had my back today and bailed me out of some trouble and that really fired me up.”
After leaving runners on base in both the first and second innings, the Sagehens finally opened the scoring in the bottom of the third, with Greg Pierantoni’s PO ’27 single driving in JC Ng PO ’25, who was previously hit by a pitch.
Though the Hens brought a run across in the third, their offensive effort was halted by an stellar double play by the Tigers, who escaped the inning, leaving Pierantoni stranded on second base.
After Hilton set the Tigers down in a two strikeout, 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, the Sagehens struck again, with singles from George Nahabedian PO ’26 and Gold quickly establishing an offensive rhythm.
Reflecting on both his offensive and defensive successes, Gold emphasized staying grounded and being selfless.
“We never falter in our jobs or our work ethic,” Gold said. “Our team is great. Personally, it makes it easy on me just knowing there’s guys in front of me and behind me that are going to get into scoring position and get the job done. I’m always confident that if I don’t get the job done, someone behind me will make my life a lot easier.”
After a sacrifice fly from Matthew Nishimura PZ ’24 scored Gold, William Kinney PZ ’26 hit a sharp single, bringing Nahabedian home. Kinney advanced to second after Ng was hit by another pitch and a subsequent two run, RBI double from Issac Kim PO ’24 saw the Sagehens take an early 4-0 lead.
Following another quick 1-2-3 inning from Hilton, P-P returned to offensive action with Nahabedian singling to score Nate Jakobs PZ ’24. After Kinney walked to load the bases, another single from Ng scored two more runs. The Hens weren’t finished however and Kim added one more with an RBI single of his own, extending the lead to 9-0.
Not content with their seemingly impassable lead, the Sagehens struck one last time in the bottom of the sixth inning. A series of walks and wild pitches scored Jakobs and put both Nahabedian and Nishimura in scoring position.
Capping off a fantastic night which saw him increase his batting average to .432 –– third among all qualified hitters in the SCIAC –– Kinney added two more runs with another RBI single, increasing the lead to 12-0.
After their small scare in the second inning, Hilton and the Sagehen defense coasted, churning through multiple quick innings. However, the Tigers put together one last effort and after an error, two doubles and a walk, Hilton found himself in another jam.
As was in the second inning, Hilton once again composed himself, inducing a massive strikeout and combining with first baseman Kim for a clutch, game ending play.
Although disappointed to not finish with a shut-out, Hilton was upbeat when asked about the final inning.
“It was definitely a stressful situation out there,” Hilton said. “It felt good though, working through it with the guys. I used to be a two-way player, so it was nice to be making some defensive plays.”
With this win, the P-P improved to 20-6 record and currently hold a 8-2 record in the SCIAC. Lowering his ERA to 2.11 — which has since been lowered to 1.85 after six shutout innings versus Caltech, Hilton grabbed his league leading sixth win of the season.
According to head coach Frank Pericolosi, consistency and mentality have been key to the Sagehens successes this year.
“We try to just take it one game at a time,” Pericolosi said. “This is a really good baseball league and all these teams are very good. So we just tried to focus on the next one and not get too far ahead of ourselves and just go try to win the next game.”
As evidenced by Pericolosi, consistent hitting and pitching have been the main story of P-P’s season, with Kim, Ng and Kinney all finding themselves at the top of the SCIAC batting statistics. Kim leads all qualified hitters in average and is second in OPS; Ng leads the conference in on base percentage.
Speaking about their success, Kinney attributed much of it to a positive environment and team chemistry.
“Chemistry has been really great this year,” Kinney said. “We all want to play and win with one another and that helps us to keep moving forward.”
Facing inclement weather for the entirety of the weekend, the Saghens and Tigers were only able to complete the second game of their three game series this weekend. On Sunday, March 24, P-P prevailed 9-3, backed by a solid pitching outing from Hannoh Seo PO ’25 and another fantastic Kinney performance, during which he went 4-5 with 3 RBI’s.
Looking forward, after dropping the series finale on Monday 8-3, the Sagehens returned to form on Thursday, thomping Caltech 15-0. They will look to continue their success as they look to take the series in a doubleheader at home on Friday, March 29. The following weekend, the Sagehens will take on No. 11 ranked La Verne in a massive three-game series with significant implications for the SCIAC playoffs.
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