The pounding of hooves and the patter of paws could be heard from the diamond as the Stags stampeded over the Bulldogs on day two of their series, defeating Redlands 9-6 in the morning and 13-3 in a quick seven innings in the afternoon. After a 6-8 loss on Friday, two victories for Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) baseball on Saturday, April 13 both won them the series and brought their overall record to 20-10 this season.
Starting on the mound in game three for the Stags and making his seventh appearance of the season was Aaron Herst CM ’26. Herst forced three consecutive groundouts in the first inning to send the Stags up to bat with early momentum. Rider Gordon CM ’27 said that Herst’s performance, as well as overall defensive dominance, was crucial for the team’s success.
“Our guy Aaron Herst was pitching for us and he was throwing strikes early,” Gordon said. “We let the defense do the work and up and down through the line up everyone just hit and trusted each other.”
Tyler Shaw CM ’24 hit a leadoff single to start the bottom of the inning, followed by a walk and an HBP to load the bases with one out. CMS began to make things difficult for Redlands pitcher Kyler Bacosa and an RBI walk by Jack Potter CM ’25 put the Stags on the board. Right after, a single by SCIAC hitter of the week Adam Dapkewicz CG ’25 drove home two and brought the score to 3-0, forcing a pitching change for the Bulldogs. Gordon then hit an RBI single before the end of the inning, putting Redlands four behind going into the second. Dillon Martin CM ’27 said the team was thrilled with their performance after the first inning.
“It was electric,” Martin said. “Once that happened, we all kind of knew that that was our game.”
However, the Bulldogs were not going to go down without a fight and Redlands scored three in the top of the third, closing the gap to one run. This went unanswered by CMS until the bottom of the fourth, who responded with force and made sure that was the last the Bulldogs would see of home plate.
After turning a double play in the top of the inning, CMS went into the bottom of the fourth with bats hot. Blaise Heher CM ’26 walked with one out and Shaw came up for his third at bat of the afternoon to smash a double to left field, advancing Heher to third. Wesley Wells CM ’27 said big hits from Andrew Mazzone CG ’25, Dapkewicz and Sanders in both games on Saturday were crucial for the team’s success.
“Those guys have definitely been producing,” Wells said. “And then even in the bottom of the lineup our guys like [Heher] and [Gordon] and [Bryce Didrickson HM ’26], they’ve been great too.”
An intentional walk loaded the bases only for Julian Sanders CM ’24 to hit an RBI single to short and move all runners forward. Potter then got his second RBI walk of the game, putting the score at 6-3 with bases loaded and two outs. Executing under pressure, Dapkewicz fired a double to center field to clear the bases and increase the Stags’ lead to six runs. Martin said he was very happy with his teammates’ performances, noting that the Stags were able to deliver results in critical moments.
“As a team I just think we hit really well,” Martin said. “Especially our grad students Andrew Mazzone [CG ’25]and Dapkewicz, they were just incredible.”
The Stags opened the bottom of the fifth with a pair of singles from Didrickson and Heher. Shaw then walked to load the bases with no outs, bringing up Mazzone, who hit a sacrifice fly to left field that allowed Didrickson to score. Martin then hit a single driving in another two runs, forcing another pitching change from Redlands. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, a fresh arm couldn’t stop the Stags as Potter drove in yet another run off a single. The 10 run gap satisfied the collegiate mercy rule, which would allow them to pack up early if they maintained that lead through the next two innings. Martin explained how the morning win was part of the reason for their afternoon dominance.
“Our confidence was just super high,” Martin said. “That’s a big part of the game. If you believe you’re gonna win, chances are you’re gonna win.”
Redlands could only scrape together one hit over the next two innings against Herst and Berkeley Harsch HM ’27, who faced the last three batters of the afternoon. The two pitchers secured CMS the mercy rule win with a final score of 13-3.
“Herst is kind of a contact pitcher, so our infielders made a bunch of plays,” Wells said. “Our defense has definitely been stepping up a lot sometimes when our offense isn’t there. But obviously our offense was there.”
The Stags had 14 hits and six walks over the seven innings and held Redlands to only eight hits and one walk. This series win moved CMS to 8-7 in conference, sitting at fifth place in the SCIAC trailing several spots behind the No. 1 ranked Sagehens who currently hold a 11-4 record in the SCIAC. With only three regular season series left in the season the Stags will have to move up one place in the rankings to secure a playoff spot, as only the top four teams in conference advance to the tournament. Despite the uphill battle the team is about to embark on, Gordon said that he feels good about their chances.
“We’re really confident moving forward,” Gordon said. “[We’re] looking for a SCIAC tournament spot and thinking we could do some real damage.”
Looking ahead, the Stags will face Occidental College in their next series at Azusa Pacific on Friday, April 19 and at Pomona-Pitzer’s alumni field on Saturday, April 20.
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