ATHERTON, Calif. - A last minute add due to the weather changes had the Red Hawks finding themselves on the road to take on Menlo College in a brief two game series on Friday. SU's strong pitching and clutch late-inning hitting got the Red Hawks a 5-4 game one victory. In game two, the Oaks rallied for six runs in seven innings for a 6-3 win over the Red Hawks to split the series at one game a piece.
The Red Hawks capitalized early in game one, scoring once in the first on a Nate Minami sacrifice fly that brought in
Jonathan Liu and then once more in the second on an
Andrew Shaw base hit that plated
Derick Kuhn. After the Oaks got a run back in the bottom half of the 2nd inning to make it 2-1, the Red Hawks tacked on two more runs off an RBI double from
Christopher Brue that scored
Creed Smith and
Austen Salcedo to extend the lead to 4-1. Menlo would then score three unanswered runs, one in the 3rd inning and two more in the 5th to tie the game at 4-4. The go-ahead run came in the 8th inning for Simpson off a fielder's choice that brought around
Andrew Acuavera and proved to be the difference-making run in the 5-4 win.
Multiple short outings for Simpson pitchers in the series opener as not one pitcher threw over two innings, splitting the time between five different players, with
Jordan Taylor tallying the win and
Paul Gallegos recording the two-inning save out of the pen.
Austen Salcedo,
Derick Kuhn, and
Andrew Bustard all swung hot bats for the Red Hawks combining for eight of Simpson's 11 hits, four coming from Salcedo while also knocking in the go-ahead run.
The three Simpson runs in game two were not enough to keep Menlo out of the win column. Again, the Red Hawks began the game with an offensive spark, tallying all three runs in the first four innings. SU got two to touch home in the 4th inning, first off a solo homerun from
Jordan Taylor, and another off a
James Turnbull single that knocked in Minami.
However, errors plagued the Red Hawks in latter half of the two game series, as three unearned runs came across, which allowed the Oaks to capitalize in big moments.
The Red Hawks use this non-conference series to get geared up for Home Conference Opener on Sunday, March 3rd with a doubleheader beginning at 11 am out at Tiger Field as they face La Sierra.
