The question of baseball predominance was answered in a three game series between Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Scripps-Mudd.

Nobody was going to give anything to either team and no one planned on going home embarrassed. It was one of those three game series that baseball was founded on. A late inning rally here, a two-hit shutout there. Kids asking for cracker jacks and old men whistling some crazy tunes.

Po-Pi and CMS squared off, each calmly wished the other well, then out came the baseball bats. The winner would inch closer to current SCIAC leader Cal Lutheran. The loser would slide next to lowly La Verne. Is this dramatic enough for you?

The first game came with all the fireworks. In the second inning CMS jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead only to see it cut to 6-5 in fourth, only to extend the lead to 13-5 by the fifth.

Neither pitching staff experienced any significant success as starting pitcher Matt Rager ‘02 allowed five runs in 1 2/3 innings and the CMS starter Max Woods ’01 allowed six runs on eight hits and five walks. Rager’s replacement Sonny Mott ’02 allowed seven runs in 2 2/3 innings. However, only four of those were earned. Those three unearned runs proved to be crucial in the end.

Down 13-6 and about to tap out, the Sagehens surged back to life and took the game to extra innings with a seven run rally in the top of ninth, capitalizing against CMS pitchers Jibin Park ’01 and Michael Henderson ’02.

However, the rally proved to be for naught as CMS took the game with a two out game winner in the bottom of the ninth 14-13. The stat sheet for both teams was almost dead even, both teams contributing 14 hits, CMS allowing nine walks to Pomona-Pitzers eight. Rob Ruiz PI ’03 led Pomona-Pitzer with four hits and six RBIs on a pair of doubles. Catcher Nick Bulaich PI ’01 also contributed four hits and two runs. However, CMS displayed a flawless defensive performance while the Sagehen’s one error proved to be their undoing.

In the second game, however, while the Stags committed two errors to the Sagehens none, defense proved to be a non-issue. This was a pitcher’s duel. They smoked their last cigs, paced ten steps, and in the end a brilliant complete game performance by Adam Gardner ’04 was wasted on a smothered offense. Gardner pieced together a solid nine inning performance, allowing just two runs on seven hits and three walks, striking out an impressive 12 CMS batters.

However, CMS pitcher Brian Kriegler ’01 was one better, as he shut out the unusually quiet Sagehen offense, winning 2-0. While Rager provided three hits and Ollie Morrison ’02 added two, the rest of the offense was silenced. In fact, Luke Smude ’02 provided the sole extra base hit for either teams, the rest of the fifteen hits were singles. "I don’t think we played particularly well as we had before," Spike Einsiedler ’02 said. "But they are always a very tough team. It could have easily gone two out of three our way but sometimes you don’t catch all the breaks you want."

Unwilling to be swept, the Sagehens came out biting… hard. Pomona-Pitzer jumped out to an early lead, scoring two in the first. This proved to be all Sagehen ace Einsiedler would need as he shut out the Stags on a two hitter, allowing no walks and striking out five in a 5-0 victory. The Sagehen offense tacked on one more run in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Einsiedler, in turn, had his way with the Stags and did away with them in just an hour and fifty minutes.

Staving off a sweep, the Sagehens finished with a 20-11 record while the Stags improved to 21-16. While the Sagehens boast a better record, in SCIAC competition, they still trail the Stags by 1.5 games and conference leader Cal Lutheran by 3.5 games. However, the Sagehens have already vastly improved from last year’s 21-17 finish overall and 12-9 finish in SCIAC. Their 12 SCIAC victories already matches last years total.

"Our goal was to win SCIAC and we put ourselves in position to contend for SCIAC, but we fell a little short," Einsiedler continued. "But I wouldn’t say we’re disappointed. We’re not let down. The season has gone well overall."