After a high-scoring weekend, the Pomona-Pitzer baseball team nearly lost their chance to play for a SCIAC championship. Usually, winning two of three games is a positive; however, in the last round of SCIAC matchups, anything below perfection can knock you out of the playoff hunt.After the normal slate of regular three-game series against league opponents, SCIAC teams entered into a round-robin series of one-game matchups to determine the SCIAC champ. P-P entered this round tied atop the standings with Redlands at 16-3. In order to win the title, the team would have to be nearly perfect. After the first weekend, the Sagehens have lost once and the Bulldogs twice, meaning that the good guys have a slight advantage. However, the winner of the Apr. 24 game will likely determine the SCIAC champion.
CMS was nearly the spoiler after defeating the Sagehens 11-1 on the back of pitcher Alex Sunderland CM ‘11. However, P-P was able to take the other two weekend games as they defeated Whittier by a score of 15-1 and La Verne by a score of 14-10.
Luckily, Redlands lost games to both Cal Lutheran and Occidental this past weekend, keeping the Sagehens on top of the league with a record of 20-4. This coming weekend is extremely important as the two teams will match up on Saturday for a game that will potentially decide the league champion and the recipient of a trip to the Western Regional.
This past Friday, P-P defeated Whittier by a score of 15-1. Leo Rosetti PO ‘12 dominated the Poets, giving up only one run in seven innings pitched. He was relieved by Lucas Fogarty PI ‘10, who threw two innings, striking out three. The defense was put into quite a lull due to the team’s brilliant pitching efforts, but the offense impressed as they put up 15 runs. Nick Frederick PO ‘11 went 4-5 with 3 RBI, and James Kang PI ‘10 went 3-6, hitting his 11th home run of the year.
Saturday was a different story as the Sagehens fell to CMS by a score of 11-1. Max Rose CM ‘10 led the Stags offensively, going 4-5 with 3 RBI. Pitcher Alex Sunderland CM ‘11 fooled the Sagehens for nine innings, giving up eight hits while striking out three.
The Sagehens redeemed themselves in Sunday’s match against La Verne, winning 14-10. Erik Munzer PI ‘13 was a perfect 4-4 with 3 RBI and 5 runs scored. James Campbell PO ‘12 was also perfect at the dish going 3-3 and driving in 5 runs. James Brunswick PO ‘10 got the win on the mound for the Sagehens after a shaky performance in which he gave up nine hits and hit four batsmen.
Good luck to the Sagehens this weekend as they play at Redlands in a battle to decide the league.