MORAGA, CALIF. – On Saturday, May 11th, the Saint Mary's baseball team took on the Pacific Tigers in game two of their three game weekend series looking to keep pace with San Diego in the race for the league title. The Gaels would fall behind in the second inning after sophomore starter
Jason Reitz would allow three straight hits including an RBI single to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. With runners on the corners and after a mound visit from head coach
Eric Valenzuela, Reitz would induce a crucial 6-4-3 double play to clear the bases. The Pacific runner would come in to score from third but with much of the game left, the Gaels would gladly trade a pair of outs for a run. Reitz would get the next batter to pop up to
Christian Almanza to end the threat.
The Gaels would waste no time getting on the scoreboard after the Tigers 2-run second inning as
Ryan Pierce would send a moon shot out past the tree line in center field to leadoff the bottom half of the second. Pierce would capitalize on a hung breaking ball and make the Tigers pitcher pay with his 11th home run of the season. Pierce is one of five Gaels with at least 10 homers on the season as they lead the conference with 88 on the year.
Reitz would settle down nicely and allow just one hit over his next three innings of work. He would depart after the fifth and put himself in line for the win with five innings of work allowing four hits, two runs and striking out four batters.
The Gaels offense would come alive in the fourth and take their first lead of the day with five hits and three runs in the inning. After back-to-back singles from
Coleman Schmidt and Almanza to leadoff the inning Pierce would record his second RBI of the day with a sac fly to center to score Schmidt. With two outs in the inning, Saint Mary's would rattle off three straight hits including RBI singles from
Nathan Chong and
Jared Mettam.
Looking to be aggressive with a first and third situation, Valenzuela would put Mettam in motion and try to bate the Pacific catcher to throw down to second. The throw would indeed go down to second but the Tigers infielder would cut it off and throw a dart to the plate to get Chong and end the inning. Nonetheless, the Gaels could afford to be aggressive as the Tigers had to make a pair of perfect throws to get Chong and they still left the inning with a 4-2 lead.
After Reitz departed the game in the fifth, things would get a little wacky as Pacific had some plays go their way in the sixth and they would finish the inning with the game knotted at four. A 1-out double would put runners on second and third but relief pitcher
Dylan Delvecchio would get a big punch out for the second out of the inning.
Nearly out of the jam, the next batter would hit a chopper to short but the throw would be rushed and high as the batter was able to reach safely and allow a run to come home to cut the Gaels lead in half. With a first and third situation of their own, the Tigers would attempt the same double steal play but this time it would work as the throw went down to second and Saint Mary's opted to get the runner out in a rundown to end the inning. The run would count from third and with a pair of unfortunate plays the Tigers would tie things up at four heading into the bottom half of the sixth.
Once again the Gaels offense would respond quickly with some great team baseball.
Tanner Griffith and Connor "Bear" Harrison would get on to start the inning and on a long fly ball out deep in the right field corner from Chong, both runners would tag and advance a base. The Tigers would go to the bullpen for the first time looking for a specific matchup but Mettam would get the job done with a sac fly to center to score Griffith from third. As the throw came in from the Pacific center fielder, he would airmail his cutoff man as the ball trickled into shallow left field. With his head on a swivel, Harrison would get the green light from the third base coach to take home and he would slide in safely to give the Gaels another 2-run lead.
After a scoreless seventh inning from Delvecchio, he would come back out for the eighth and strikeout the first Pacific batter but walk the next and make way for senior right hander
Preston Howey. On just the third pitch of his outing, Howey would induce a 6-4-3 double play to ignite the Gaels dugout and send them into the ninth inning maintaining their 6-4 lead.
Harrison would come back to the plate in the bottom half of the eighth inning and record his first RBI of the game with the team's third sac fly of the day. The inning would feature great team baseball once again after a leadoff double from Pierce. Griffith would then lay down a beautiful sac bunt to move his teammate over to third in which Harrison would eventually cash in the run with his sac fly to center.
Howey would remain in the game and get the 5-out save for his team leading fourth save of the season. After a 1-out walk he would get back-to-back strikeouts to secure the 7-4 victory, extending the Gaels win streak to seven games. Almanza and Pierce led the way with two hits each and Pierce and Mettam each had a pair of RBI's in the afternoon contest. With five innings of work and some timely offense, Reitz would pick up his third win of the season and lower his ERA to 5.44.
Saint Mary's continues to duke it out with Portland as both teams sit at 15-5 in conference play, fighting for that second seed in the conference tournament. After the series finale against Pacific tomorrow, the Gaels will head north to take on the Pilots for their final regular season series in what will be a pivotal one for postseason seeding.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's improves to 32-16 overall and 15-5 in WCC play as their win streak extends to seven games after their 7-4 victory over the Tigers. They will finish off the series with Senior Day on Sunday, May 12th at 1:00 PM. Tickets can be online at smcgaels.com and you can stream the game live on ESPN+. Be sure to follow your Gaels on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get all the latest Saint Mary's athletics updates and information.
