REDDING, Calif. - The baseball squad's home opener came a little earlier than expected as they hosted Oregon Tech today in a twin-bill to kick off a four-game home stand. 

Due to heavy snowfall in Klamath, OR this past week the series between the Red Hawks and Owls moved to Simpson. 

The Owls drew first blood in the top of the first inning on a two-run blast to take the early lead as they plated one run in the second inning. 

But OIT extended its lead in the fifth inning to take the 5-0 lead before the Red Hawks began to chip away. 

A leadoff walk to Aden Munoz followed by a double by Dylan Leek put the Red Hawks in business. 

Munoz plated the first run as he stole home followed by an RBI single by Mario Catalan who later came around to score on a balk to make it a 5-3 game. 

Simpson got the first two runners aboard on a hit-by-pitch to Bo Valladao to begin the inning followed by a double by Jaxon Hotta to put traffic aboard for Simpson.

A pinch-hit RBI ground ball to the shortstop by Dominic Folks plated the fourth run of the game as Simpson pulled within one. 

But the Owls added an insurance run in the top of the eighth inning as they held onto the 6-4 game-one victory. 

Reuben Lujan had a solid outing out of the Red Hawks bullpen as he fired three innings of one-hit baseball. 

Hotta, Leek, and Alex Tolbert led the team with two hits each in the first game as they combined for four extra-base hits. 

Game 2:

The Owls exploded in game two as they plated seven runs on six hits to jump on Simpson starter Gage Hoyle before plating two more runs in the second inning to take the commanding 9-0 lead. 

A two-out rally on back-to-back hits by Chase Rossman and Andreyes Placios put two runners in scoring position for Keelan Yagi. 

Yagi came through with a two-out two-strike two-run single back up the middle to drive in Rossman and Palacios to put Simpson on the board. 

Simpson scratched one run across in the bottom of the third inning on a solo blast by freshman Connor Christie. 

The Red Hawks strung five runs in the final two innings but fell to the Owls 19-8 as they could not overcome the early deficit. 

Simpson looks to bounce back tomorrow as they conclude its series against OIT in a doubleheader set to start at noon. 

 

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