For the past few years Pomona-Pitzer baseball has seen arch-rival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps dominate the diamond to an almost embarrassing degree. Well, the tides have turned.

In Friday’s game it was beginning to look as though CMS would retain their dominance. The Stags, playing at Pomona and ahead 11-4 going into the bottom of the 8th, were primed to dominate yet another season of competition in the storied rivalry.

The game started off sloppily, and it looked like the Stags had the mental edge. The Sagehens, playing in front of their largest home crowd of the season, looked anxious on the field. In the second inning the Hens gave up four runs after an error at second-base that could’ve ended the inning tied 1-1. Instead they left the second down 5-1 and did not look as though they could turn things around.

Joseph Koch Matthew Rager '02 picked up a save in the Sagehen's 15-9 defeat of the Stags on Saturday. Rager allowed only 1 hit and 1 run in the 3 innings he pitched.

By the seventh inning the Hens trailed 9-4. Much of the crowd departed as the afternoon wore on — some fans lingered to see if the Hens would show any signs of life. Then the Hens morale hit a game-low. On an apparent hit to right field, Jose Cortez ‘03 was thrown out at first. Not only did this discourage the remaining Pomona-Pitzer fans, it riled up the CMS support. One fan heckled Cortez for not making it to first. The home fans looked devoid of feeling, unable, it appeared, to deal with another loss to CMS. Things were looking bad, and it was doubly disappointing because this was supposed to be the year of the Sagehen for Pomona-Pitzer baseball.

But, just as all hope seemed lost, the Hens suddenly became energized; due, in part, to the rude heckling of the CMS fans. Pomona-Pitzer began to show signs of life in the eighth inning. Wasn’t it too late for a comeback? Not for our resilient Sagehens.

The Hens loaded the bases for none other than slugger Jose Cortez. Cortez, the subject of much of the CMS heckling due to his touted reputation as the best hitter in SCIAC — he went into the game leading the conference in all major categories including homeruns, batting and RBIs — lived up to his numbers. He jacked a grand slam to bring the Sagehens within three runs of the Stags. As he ran the bases, Cortez looked up at the fans who had previously questioned his game. Rest assured that they will never do that again.

The Hens then completed this comeback with a gutsy ninth inning, starting with a leadoff homerun from Alex Siele ’02 and finished off by Luke Smude’s ’02 game-winning RBI. In this classic fashion, Pomona-Pitzer took game one, and secured the momentum for the rest of the series, in what one fan called, "the most exciting baseball game I’ve ever seen."

"Basically I went up to bat and I could hear the CMS guys talking like they had been the whole game." Cortez said. "That homer was the best comeback I could’ve hoped for. It was one of the most exciting feelings I’ve ever had. After that I was just like, ‘we’re gonna win this game."

Coach Paul Svagdis echoed these sentiments, saying, "Cortez’s homerun really jazzed us all up, and after Siele’s homer in the bottom of the ninth, we all said, we’re going to win this game."

But, once again, a late burst of power and energy was all the Sagehens needed to pull away from the Stags. Back-to-back-to-back home runs from Luke Smude, Jose Cortez and Ryan Gould ’00 to start off the ninth inning and give the Hens a 15-9 lead. That really put an end to the Stags once and for all and secured the first series victory over CMS in Gould’s four year career with the team. Smude also matched the school record for doubles over the weekend, picking up two more to bring his total to 20.

"It was fantastic to win those games," Smude commented. "The CMC fans were really tough on us and getting our twentieth win in a situation like that was definitely a rush."

In Gould’s final series against CMS, and his final series as a Sagehen, he put up some amazing statistics. In three games Gould had 9 hits, 4 RBIs and scored 4 runs. Others to put up impressive numbers were Cortez, who had 2 homers and 7 RBIs, Smude, who had 9 hits, 6 RBIs and 6 runs, and Mike Jacobs ’00, who did his job as the lead-off hitter reaching base 9 times on seven hits and tallying 5 runs.

Of the team’s overall performance against the Stags, Coach Svagdis said, "These guys haven’t given up all year. They are steady and consistent and they handle pressure well. They don’t give up. The Cortez grand slam is proof of that. The back-to-back-to-back situation was the same."

The Hens finished the season 21-17 and third in SCIAC. Although the losses of starters Jacobs and Gould will definitely be felt next season, the team’s youth is undoubtedly a point of concern for the rest of SCIAC — the Hens are bringing back a wealth of talent that other SCIAC teams will have trouble contending with. Next year should see the Hens improve, yet again, on their already impressive record.