MARSHALL, TX. --  The Pomona-Pitzer Baseball team started its 2024 season on the road at No. 5 East Texas Baptist and came away with an opening day split with a 16-6 loss and an 11-3 win on Friday afternoon. 
 
Pomona-Pitzer 6, East Texas Baptist 16
 
The Sagehens were led by Greg Pierantoni who went 2-3 in the game with three RBI and his first collegiate home run of his career. Andrew An and William Kinney had two-hit games as well while Jimmy Legg, JC Ng, Carson Evans, and Jack Gold each came away with a hit as well in the loss.
 
The Sagehens scored their first run of the year in the very first inning of the season as Jimmy Legg doubled to start the day and Carson Evans earned his first collegiate RBI to put the Sagehens on top 1-0.
 
With the rain pouring down, The Tigers were able to sneak a run across in the bottom of the first before the game was delayed due to conditions.
 
After a short break, the game continued, and East Texas Baptist continued their run production in the first inning after they plated five more runs to take a 6-1 lead over the Sagehens after one inning of play. ETBU came back with five more runs in the second and one in the third to take a commanding 12-1 lead in game one of the doubleheader.
 
A bright spot for the Sagehens in the top of the fifth after Pierantoni blasted his first collegiate home run with a three-run shot to left to cut the lead down to 12-4.
 
The Tigers added two more runs each in the fifth and sixth innings while the Sagehens got back on the board with an RBI double by Gold and an RBI single by An for their first collegiate RBIs as the Sagehens fell in game one of the doubleheader.
 
Pomona-Pitzer 11, East Texas Baptist 3
 
The Sagehens were led by JC Ng who had a 3-4 night with two RBIs and a home run in the win. Matthew Nishimura went 3-5 while Tanner DeGrazia and Pierantoni had two-hit games as well.
 
Jake Hilton got his first start of the 2024 season and pitched a gem against the No. 5 team in the nation. Hilton went five innings for the win and gave up two runs on four hits and struck out seven. Eamon Woods came in relief with two innings and one run surrendered while Eric Prough came in late for the final two innings of shutout relief work.
 
A big first inning for the Sagehens saw them plate five runs off of RBIs from Pierantoni, DeGrazia, and Nishimura to give Hilton a nice cushion to start his first outing of the season.
 
East Texas Baptist got their first run in the second inning off of a sacrifice fly, but the Sagehens came right back with an RBI single from Nishimura to maintain their lead.  ETB cut the lead down to four with a run in the third before Ng blasted a two-run bomb to right in the top of the sixth to put the Sagehens up 8-2 over the Tigers. 
 
Another home run for the Tigers in the sixth made it 8-3, but the Sagehens closed out the game with the final three runs of the game from a solo shot from Jackson Fleming, an RBI single from Pierantoni, and a score off of a wild pitch as the Sagehens split their opening day doubleheader with the No. 5 team in the nation.
 
Up Next: The Sagehens will finish their series with the Tigers with a rubber game on Saturday, February 10^th at 7:00 p.m. CST.