By Jesse Caro, PO '12

CLAREMONT — The Pomona-Pitzer baseball team kicked off its season with a 10-3 victory over the Pacific Boxers. Ace pitcher David Colvin (SR, Mill Valley) and first basemen Nick Frederick (SR, Arlington, VA) led the charge as the defending SCIAC champions look to win their fourth conference title in five seasons.

The game started off tight with Pacific jumping out to a first-inning lead, but the Sagehens scored three runs in the fourth inning and five in the sixth to pull ahead for good. Frederick provided the power as his first two at-bats of the season resulted in a home run and a triple. The slugger ended the game 4-4 with four RBIs and three runs, just a double shy of the cycle.

Pacific pitcher Jason Sawyer made his collegiate debut, and while he was able to keep the Sagehen hitters off balance at times with his off-speed pitches, the freshman was unable to hold down one of the more prolific offenses in the SCIAC conference over the last few years.

Pomona freshman Travis Bowers (FR, Palo Alto) got the nod at shortstop in his first game, and he delivered with two RBIS on two hits, including a double that he smoked into center field.

After a couple seeing-eye singles in the first and a home run in the third that barely cleared the fence, the Boxers had two early runs. But Colvin buckled down and dominated the Pacific lineup after that. The veteran threw seven innings, the final four were scoreless, and he notched 10 strikeouts to only one walk with a healthy dose of ground balls.

Left fielder Mike Moyer (SO, Oakland) left the game in the fifth inning after a nasty collision with the outfield fence. Moyer walked off the field under his own power, and was replaced by Timothy Novom (FR, Rancho Palos Verdes).

The Sagehens return to action on Thursday with a home game against  Chapman University (1-2 overall). First pitch will be at 2:00 PM. The  Sagehens follow this one-game encounter with a three game set Friday and Saturday this weekend against Caltech (0-2 overall, 0-0 SCIAC).