Pasadena, Calif. Whitman started off their 2019 spring break with road trip with a bang, using strong pitching and a four run seventh inning en route to a 7-3 victory over the Caltech Beavers on Saturday afternoon.
The Blues rode a strong performance from Eric Ma on the mound Saturday, who clearly felt at home back in Southern California. Ma, who went to high school about 20 minutes from the site of Saturday's contest, pitched a complete game in earning the win, his first of his junior campaign. Ma gave up six hits on the afternoon, and only surrendered one earned run in the game, while striking out six.
That lone earned run came in the bottom of the third, when Caltech got on the board first. Burleson led off the inning with a single, and Cook followed with a base hit of his own to put runners on the corner. Cook then attempted to steal second when and the following error by Anthony Nevoso and allowed Burleson to score and give the Beavers an early 1-0 lead.
Whitman tied it back up in the top of the fourth inning off the new pitcher for the Beavers, Jonah Krop. After Krop retired the first two blues he faced, Kyle Reisman doubled to right field, and he was followed with an single by Kevin Nakamura, who advanced to second on an error by first baseman Mitchell Watson that allowed Reisman to score and tie the game at 1.
The Blues tallied another run in the sixth on an RBI groundout by Reisman that brought Brett Williams into score and take a lead they would never relinquish. Then Whitman broke it open in the seventh inning as David Johnson led off the inning with a triple down the right field line. After Leo Rivera came in the game for Nevoso and drew a walk, Wishart again came through with an RBI, this time a single just past the diving Beaver shortstop Cortland Perry that brought home Johnson to make it 3-1. Jerick Nomura was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. Then with Tyler Lewis at the plate, the Blues were able to get two runs thanks to an error by Caltech Catcher Dawson Beutler and a wild pitch by Krop to make the score 6-1.
Whitman then tallied one more run in the eighth inning as Reisman reached again with a single, and after Kevin Nakamura walked, would eventually come around to score on when Matthew Sox grounded into a double play to give Whitman their final run of the game. Caltech responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, due in part to an error to open up the inning, to give the final 7-3 score.
Reisman finished the game 2-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, Wishart went 2-3 with an RBI and also scored for the Blues, who evened up their record on the year at 7-7 overall for the 2019 campaign.
Whitman will be back in action Sunday for a pair of games with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, first pitch for game one scheduled to take place at 11 a.m.
