CLAREMONT, Calif. – Visiting Whitworth could not hold a pair of early leads and was swept by Pomona-Pitzer in a non-conference baseball doubleheader on Saturday. The Sagehens (9-1) won the opener 4-1 and the second game 14-13 to sweep the three game series.
Whitworth (1-9) will conclude its trip to California with a single game at Chapman on Sunday.
Game 1: Pomona-Pitzer 4, Whitworth 1
The Pirates had a 1-0 lead until the fifth inning, but could not add to their offensive output after the first inning.
Jaxsen Sweum doubled in the first and scored on Brenden Duncan's double later in the frame.
Hunter Dryden held the Sagehens scoreless through the first four innings. Pomona-Pitzer tied the game in the fifth when Ryan Nishi led off with a double and later scored on a sacrifice fly.
Caleb Millikan doubled in the go-ahead run in the sixth and later scored on what was ruled an error in left field on a hard hit ball off the bat of Isaac Kim. Jimmy Legg homered in the seventh for the final run.
Sweum went 3-3 with three doubles for Whitworth. Gage Gibson had a pair of hits, giving those two players half of the team's total of ten.
Dryden (0-2) allowed three runs (two earned) on only two hits in 5.1 innings. He walked three and struck out three. Hunter Williams went the final 2.2 innings and allowed a run on two hits.
Brett Super (3-0) started for P-P and got the win after allowing one run on eight hits in six innings. Eamonn Woods pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save.
Game 2: Pomona-Pitzer 14, Whitworth 13
The teams traded nine-run rallies, but it was the Sagehens' four runs in the fifth that made the difference.
The Pirates jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second when Riley Cissne and Jacob Doughty sandwiched RBI singles around a sacrifice fly by Jeremiah Kennell.
Pomona-Pitzer scored nine in the fourth inning. Kim and Nishi each had two-run doubles at the end of the rally.
Whitworth scored nine in the top of the fifth to go back in front 12-9. Sweum opened the scoring with a two-run double. The Pirates took advantage of two wild pitches that allowed runs to score and an error at shortstop for another run.
The Sagehens retook the lead 13-12 with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Legg had an RBI single, then Kevin Lo followed with a two-run double.
Whitworth tied the game in the sixth on Dawson Warner's sacrifice fly to center field scored Gibson. P-P scored the winner in the bottom of the sixth on its own sacrifice fly.
Doughty went 3-4 with two runs and two RBIs for the Pirates. Kennell had three RBIs without a hit. Cissne (2-4) was the only other Buc with more than one hit as Whitworth scored 13 on only eight hits.
Austin Rice started on the mound for Whitworth and allowed one run on one hit in three innings. Five players followed in relief. Dylan Owen threw the final two innings and was the hard-luck losing pitcher after he gave up only one run on one hit in two innings of work.
Ethan Collins got the win with 1.1 innings of relief and Eric Prough pitched a perfect seventh for the save.
