The Pomona-Pitzer baseball team’s offense got hot last week, bombarding opponents with runs to win three straight. The Sagehens, who played one game against Chapman and took two from Menlo, won by an average margin of seven points, bringing their overall record to 17-13. They resume conference play against La Verne today.

Hens hitting was at its best in the 11-6 victory over Chapman. Every player that appeared at the plate got a hit, including six players with multiple-hit games. Mike Jacobs ’00, Robert Ruiz ’03 and Luke Smude ’02 had three hits each and combined for five RBIs and four runs. Alex Siele ’02, a pitcher for the Hens, also had a notable outing, hitting his first homerun of the season, a solo shot in the 8th inning.

Pitcher Matt Rager ’02 pitched eight and two-thirds innings and struck out five, leaving the save for Spike Einseidler ’02. First baseman Smude explained the team’s recent offensive explosion. "As a team we’re all being much more aggressive at the plate. Trying not to get behind in the count. Coach is letting us be aggressive and that’s helped a lot," he said. Smude went on to pay homage to his pitching staff’s solid outings, "This week we had really good pitching performances. Our starting pitchers have made things easy for the rest of us. When they’re solid on the mound it makes it a lot easier for us to swing the bats because we’re not coming from behind…they’re throwing with balls," he said.

The Hens kept up the pace at the plate and on the mound against Menlo two days later, taking a double header, 15-4 and 6-3. Siele and Ruiz managed to maintain their torrent hitting, Ruiz blasting a homer in the third Inning and Siele going 2-4 with a triple and two RBIs. Sean Gilbert ’03 pitched seven innings and had 5 strikeouts on the day.

In game two against Menlo, freshman sensation and SCIAC homerun leader Jose Cortez ’03 hit two homers, one in the first and one in the fifth inning. Einsiedler (6-2) pitched all nine innings of that game, giving up only one walk, one earned run and no extra-base hits. "Nick Bolaich [’01], is a really experienced catcher and he knows what pitches to call. I’ve got a lot of confidence in our defense, too, and that helps a lot," said Einsiedler. he also pitched nine innings against the number one division III school in the country, Eastern Connecticut, and won. Of the upcoming La Verne series, Einsiedler said: "This series is a really big one — they’re a really good team and winning or losing could make or brake our season. It gives us a chance to build momentum into the Claremont series and finish out the season on a high note." Einsiedler is fifth in earned run average among the SCIAC pitching leaders this season, with a 3.55.

Cortez is eying the triple-crown in SCIAC, second in batting at .420, first in homeruns with 13 and first in RBIs with 45. Smude is right behind Cortez with 37 RBIs. Smude and Cortez are also tied for the conference lead in doubles (14) and runs (39) and tied for second in the conference in hits (47).

The upcoming games against La Verne will put these hot-hitting Hens to the test. La Verne is the second best pitching team in the conference and has a team batting average of .320 (to the Hens .322). Considering all this we are in store for some good baseball.