STOCKTON, Calif. – The Tigers pounced on the Bears early, as a nine-run first inning gave starter
Zach Patterson all the insurance he needed. The Tiger pitching staff blanked the Bears en route to a 10-0 shutout win and series sweep.
The Tigers blew the game open in the first, as left fielder
Ben Nemivant crushed his first home run of the season to put the Tigers up 2-0 minutes into the game. A strikeout, a walk and a single brought up
Jarron Silva, who doubled down the line to bring home the third run and put two runners in scoring position for first baseman
Jacob Weiss who brought home
James McClenaghan.
Colby Canales continued the carnage for the Tigers, crushing a two-run home run over the high left center field wall to put the Tigers up by six. After two singles, Nemivant was up again as the Tigers had hit through the lineup, and he hit his second home run of the inning, a three-run shot to right-center field. Nemivant, who had three career home runs coming into Sunday, now had two in one inning. The Bears had seen enough from their starter, Sharp, who was pulled after two-thirds of an inning. A flyout ended the inning for the Tigers, but the damage had already been done.
Nine first-inning runs is any pitcher's dream, and
Zach Patterson took advantage, throwing six scoreless innings, striking out five and only allowing two hits. Patterson may have been the best in a weekend of great pitching for the Tigers.
Jon Fortner,
Caden Duke and
Tyler Stout each pitched one inning in relief. They only allowed one hit and struck out four batters between the three.
"Our starting pitching did well all four games," said Head Coach
Chris Rodriguez. "It allowed our bullpen to get stretched out a little bit which was good. Our hitting woke up a little bit with a lot of big hits, a lot of power hits."
Canales drove in one more run with a single in the eighth inning to bring the Tiger's to double-digit runs and give him three RBI on the day. Canales and Nemivant both set career highs in RBI in a game as the Tigers got their first shutout win since March 8, 2020, against Grand Canyon.
