WHITTIER, Calif. - Carter Bennett hit a walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the tenth inning in the rubber game of the series to give the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team a 9-6 win over La Verne on Saturday afternoon at Whittier. 

CMS also walked off the first game by the run rule, 11-1 in eight innings, on a two-run homer from Max Pemberton. The Stags improve to 18-6 overall and 8-4 in the SCIAC, bouncing back after falling in Friday's series opener 15-3. CMS has won all six series it has played so far, including three-game SCIAC sets with La Verne, Chapman, Occidental and Redlands, as well as non-conference ones with Mary Hardin-Baylor and Whitworth. 

CMS was down 2-0 in the nightcap in the fifth, before Blaise Heher got the Stags on the board with a solo homer. Bryce Didrickson came home on an error in the sixth, and Dillon Martin singled home Rider Gordon to put the Stags up 3-2. 

Alex Henderson seemed to put the Stags in control with a big three-run blast in the bottom of the seventh, but La Verne was able to come back and tie it in the ninth, with Martin turning two at shortstop with the bases loaded and nobody out to prevent further damage. 

Bennett made a key defensive play in the top of the tenth, snaring a line drive for a double play, and then finished it off in the bottom half. Gordon reached on an error to start the rally with one out, and Martin followed with a single. Bennett then put one out to right-center field to end the contest with the Stags taking it 9-6. 

Heher finished 3-for-4 for the Stags, while Bennett and Martin were each 2-for-3. Joshua Lewis started and had a solid outing, allowing two runs in 5.1 innings, while Andrew Blackett threw the tenth to get the win. 

In the opening game, CMS led 6-1 heading into the eighth, before Heher and Didrickson led off with singles. Charlie Kalil sacrificed them over, and Gordon tripled to plate two. After Dillon Martin singled to make it 9-1, Pemberton finished it off with a two-run blast. 

Bennett staked CMS to a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run double, and Henderson and Gordon had RBI singles in the second. Didrickson had an RBI single in the fourth, and Gordon added another one in the sixth. 

Tegin Maloney started and threw seven innings, striking out seven and allowing just two hits and walking one to get the win. Heher was 3-for-3 with four runs scored, and Gordon finished 4-for-5 with four RBI. 

On Friday, La Verne put 10 runs across in the second and the Stags could never recover. Pemberton was 2-for-2, Henderson was 2-for-3 and Martin Was 2-for-4 in the loss. Brady Monaghan had a strong outing out of the bullpen, throwing three innings, allowing three hits and one run, whle striking out four. 

CMS will be back in action next weekend for a three-game series with Whittier, beginning with a single game at Redlands on Friday.