CLAREMONT, CA. – The Sagehen Baseball team walked off their first win of 2023 with a 3-2 win over non-conference opponent Whitworth on Friday afternoon at Alumni Field.

Season Impact: With the win, the Sagehens start the season 1-0 and open their three-game series against Whitworth with a win.

The Sagehens were led by Isaac Kim who went 2-3 in the win with two walks and scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth. David Bedrosian, Nate Jakobs, Jackson Fleming, Donovan Crook, and Caleb Millikan all earned their first hits of the season while Millikan contributed the walk-off at-bat in the bottom of the ninth. 

Jake Hilton got the ball for opening day and went five innings giving up two runs and nine strikeouts for a no-decision. Eamon Woods provided the Sagehens with three solid innings of relief work while Eric Prough picked up the win by coming in for a 1, 2, 3 ninth.

Not a ton of action in game one of 2023 on offense but the Sagehens managed three runs on seven hits.  The first run of the game came in the bottom of the second after Crook earned his first collegiate hit and RBI with a double down the line to score Fleming for the 1-0 lead.

Whitworth responded in their next at-bats with an RBI single and went on to take the lead in the top of the fourth after a throwing error by Hilton on a failed pickoff attempt put the Pirates up 2-1. 

Millikan played a big role for the Sagehens late in the game after he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for the easiest RBI of his career to make it 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh. Millikan then found himself at the plate in the bottom of the ninth with the winning run on third. Millikan came up with a hard-hit groundball to the shortstop that forced a bad throw to the plate as the Sagehens stormed the field for the walk-off celebration on opening day. 

Up Next: The Sagehens will finish their three-game series with a doubleheader against the Pirates starting tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.