Kearney singled in Albie Lavin in the sixth inning for what would stand as the game-winning run in Saturday’s 9-7 Caltech win over Pacifica that snapped the Beavers’ 228-game losing streak.
Caltech had last won a game on Feb. 15, 2003 against Cal State University-Monterey Bay.
In the victory, which was the second game of a Caltech season-opening doubleheader that opened with a 5-0 Pacifica win, Caltech scored three runs in the first inning and owned a 4-0 advantage after four.
But Pacifica scored seven runs in a nightmare fifth that saw two Caltech errors. But Caltech scored a run in the fifth before a four-run sixth turned the game for good.
Caltech’s insurance run came when Kearney scored on a Mason Freedman single.
Caltech starter Daniel Chou got the seven-inning, complete-game win, holding Pacifica hitless for the first 4 1/3 innings. He finished allowing eight hits and seven runs (five earned).
Brianna Penserini (run, run batted in) had three hits, as did Jerome Kelly (two runs, RBI). Kearney scored twice and drove in two runs.
In the opener, Kearney had two of his team’s four hits and also got the start and the loss on the mound, throwing six innings and allowing just six hits and two earned runs, as Pacifica scored three unearned.
