TUCSON, Ariz. - A day after Cal Lutheran earned a walk off win, it fell victim to a ninth inning rally and suffered a 5-4 loss to Carthage (Wis.) Saturday afternoon at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium. Carthage scored four runs in the seventh inning and then pushed across another in the ninth against Cal Lutheran's All-American closer Aaron Roth. It was Roth's first loss in his last 37 appearances dating back to last season.
Cal Lutheran built a 3-0 lead after the Kingsmen scored two unearned runs in the second and Nico Filice hit a tape-measure homerun to left field in the bottom of the sixth.
Carthage would rally in the top of the seventh as it scored four runs including the final two coming on 0-2 counts.
Justin Cana would lead off the bottom of the inning with a single and then came around to score after Kyle Sanchez launched a double to the right-centerfield gap, evening the game at 4-4. Cal Lutheran could have had more as Ramsey Abushahla followed Sanchez by getting hit by a pitch and giving the Kingsmen runners at first and second but Carthage third baseman Zach Wade came up with the defensive play of the game. Atherton Kniseley laced a shot down the third baseline that would have surely scored both Sanchez and Abushahla but Wade made a diving stop and kept the ball from leaving the infield as the runners could only advance one base. Sam Wilhelms would then get a strikeout to end the inning and the CLU offensive threat.
Roth would get the first two outs of the ninth inning but Drew Bailey came up with the go-ahead RBI single when he sent a base hit through the left side and Tanner Wensman scored.
Cal Lutheran had one final shot when Nicho DellaValle singled to lead off the bottom of the ninth and got in scoring position following a sacrifice bunt. DellaValle would then advance to third after a groundout and Wilhelm got Nick Cohan to lineout after a nine-pitch at-bat to end the game.
Mitchell Shields started the game on the mound for the Kingsmen and threw 4.0 scoreless innings while striking out three. Connor Sipes and Cam Adams almost made appearances on the mound for CLU.
Spencer DuBois was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI while Cana had two hits to lead CLU.
The Kingsmen (15-5) will close out its Tucson Tournament with UW-Superior on March, 23, at 11:00 a.m.
Box Score: CAR 5 CLU 4
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