MEDFORD, Mass. -
Bryce Didrickson hit a pair of home-runs, including a go-ahead two-run shot in the eighth, as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team opened NCAA Tournament play with an 8-6 win over Kean (N.J.) on Friday afternoon in a regional hosted by Tufts.
With the win, CMS improves to 32-13 on the year, and advances to take on Tufts tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. Pacific time (2:30 local) in a winner's bracket game after Tufts won its opener over Mitchell 14-1.
CMS was down 4-2 before tying it in the seventh. In the eighth,
Slader Spoor drew a one-out walk, and Didrickson followed with his second homer of the game over the right-center field fence to put the Stags ahead 6-4.
Dillon Martin added an RBI groundout and
Max Pemberton had an RBI single to extend the lead to 8-4.
The insurance runs would be big, as Kean scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to get back within 8-6.
Jacob Young then came out of the bullpen and got two big strikeouts with the bases loaded to keep it an 8-6 game. Young got one more strikeout to start the ninth, and after a two-out walk, he finished off the save with a grounder to
Carter Bennett at second.
Pemberton tied the score for CMS 1-1 in the fourth with an RBI single to score Martin, who led off with a double. Didrickson then led off the fifth with a home run to put CMS ahead for the first time, before breaking another tie in the eighth with his second round-tripper.
Didrickson finished the game 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI, while Pemberton drove in three runs and Martin scored three.
Bryant Smaaladen threw 2.2 innings of relief to get the win and improve to 5-2, allowing one hit and no earned runs, while Young got the save with 1.2 innings with three strikeouts and no hits.
CMS will look to continue through the winner's bracket tomorrow against Tufts in hopes of winning a regional for the second year in a row. The loser of the CMS-Tufts game will stay on the field for a second game against the winner of the 11 a.m. contest between Kean and Mitchell, while the winner will advance to Sunday's championship round.
