"Winning isn't everything," they say. "At least we tried hard. We'll get 'em next time."

Of course, the other side usually says nice things too, like, "They showed promise. They showed spirit. The Clippers gave us a good run." We've seen it time and time again.

But when all is said and done and the losing team goes home to their lonely lives and the winning team starts opening kegs and champagne bottles, that once-quiet voice whispering in the back of everyone's mind surfaces ecstatically: "We kicked their ass."

And so it should it be, and so it should be with the Sagehen baseball team, who now boast a strong 8-2 record and undefeated 5-0 mark within SCIAC after a three-game sweep of the hapless Occidental Tigers.

Emily Gold The Pomona-Pitzer baseball team give one loud bussah! of triumph.

In these three games, the Sagehens defeated the Cowardly Tigers by scores of 17-4, 6-1, and 19-0, overall outscoring them 42-5, more resembling a bizarre football score than any respectable baseball count.

Coming off of their 15-6 tossing of Redlands, the Sagehens met the Tigers brimming with confidence. The first game remained relatively close for the first three innings as Oxy managed to remain tied at 2-2.

Then, acting as if the first three innings were simply a practical joke, the Sagehens scored four in the fourth and did not look back for the rest of the weekend. Sagehen Sonny Mott PI '03 scattered 10 hits over eight innings, allowing only two earned runs and issuing no walks. The offense provided 19 hits along with its 17 runs.

Every starting player got at least one hit for the Sagehens, as Luke Smude '02 went three for six with two doubles, three runs, and three RBIs, Bobby Boeche '03 went four for six with a double, a home run, and two runs, and Matt Rager '03 went three for five with a home run and five RBIs.

The second contest proved more formidable as it took a five-run Sagehen fifth inning to overcome the Tigers 6-1. Freshman Adam Gardner dominated the Tiger offense, scattering eight hits and one run with seven strikeouts in his complete game.

Perhaps somewhat embarrassed that they allowed Occidental to come as close as five runs, or just plain pissed off for whatever reason, the Sagehens pounded the Bad News Tigers for a 19-0 shutout in the third contest, as Spike Einsiedler '02 and Mike Renery '03 combined for nine solid shut-out innings with four strikeouts apiece.

For the offense, the game resembled batting practice more than anything else. The Tiger pitchers cried. They begged, they pleaded… "Clemency! Clemency!" But the beauty of baseball is that, unlike football, basketball, or hockey, the clock is neither a savior nor an enemy. She just sits there and smiles, "Get yourself out of your own damn mess." So the beating continued until the Tigers managed to dust themselves off and run back to Pasadena.

How bad was this game? The Sagehens scored 10 runs in the first inning. The box score doesn't account for such aberrations, so when you score that, you have to put parentheses around the 10, that's how bad it is.

To add insult to a lot of disgrace, the Sagehens never relented, pounding 19 hits over the nine innings. Jose Cortez PI '03 led the attack going three for three with two home runs, three runs, and five RBIs. Second baseman Rob Ruiz PI '03 also had a perfect day, going two for two with two doubles and four RBIs.

Perhaps the most impressive statistic coming out of this weekend is that a once somewhat struggling Sagehen defense came together, committing only one error in the three games combined.

"We played really well and had very few errors," Smude remarked. "We were saddled up and ready to go. The upcoming competition is going to be tough but if we cowboy up it should be no problem. If we can keep playing the way we've been playing we should have the opportunity to compete for the SCIAC title."