THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - No. 12 Cal Lutheran captured its 10th straight Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) series after splitting with Chapman Tuesday, falling 12-9 in the first game before rallying in game two to win 6-0. After the CLU pitching staff was roughed up for 18 hits in game one, Kingsmen game two starter Scott Peters threw a complete game shutout and allowed just four Panther hits.
Chapman started game one fast, scoring 10 runs over the first three innings.
The Kingsmen got two runs back in the bottom of the third when Jake Petersen singled up the middle and Ramsey Abushala blasted an opposite field homerun to make the score 10-5.
Chapman would increase its lead to 12-5 before Cal Lutheran got back into the game after a three-run fifth inning. Petersen led off the frame with his third hit of the day and later scored on a double from Collin Crowl. Kyle Sanchez followed that with an RBI of his own when he sent a base-hit into left field and plated Crowl. Davey Casciola kept the inning going with a single and then Nico Filice had a pinch-hit knock that scored Sanchez and got the Kingsmen to within four at 12-8.
Casciola would knock in a run in the bottom of the eighth and CLU would send the tying run to the plate but Taber Watson would finish off the final four outs of the game for the Panthers.
Travis McGee (2-0) earned the win for the Panthers after pitching 5.0 innings while allowing eight runs on nine hits.
Andrew Carbajal and Mark Saazter each had three hits while Connor Battaglia, Tyler Cook, Greg Dillon and Matt Gandy all had two RBIs for the Panthers.
Tyler Hebda (1-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing seven runs on eight hits in 2.0 innings of the work.
Landry Kiyabu made his first appearance in two seasons while Connor Sipes pitched a career-high 4.0 innings.
Petersen was 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored while Sanchez had four RBIs. Abushala had two hits and two RBIs.
Peters stole the show in game two, keeping the Panther hitters off balance while allowing just two Chapman runners to get past second base as he earned his first complete-game victory.
The Kingsmen got a run in the second inning off an errant throw from the Chapman second baseman and then went up 2-0 in the fourth when Gabe Gunter singled up the middle to score Abushala.
In a crucial stretch of the game, CLU loaded the bases in both the fifth and sixth but Chapman starting pitcher Matt Smith was able to get out of each inning unscathed, getting a double-play to end the fifth inning and a strike-out in the sixth.
Fortunately for CLU, Chapman was unable to carry over any momentum as Peters retired the side in order following both innings.
Cal Lutheran broke the game open with a four-run seventh inning. Both Justin Cana and Nicho DellaValle reached to lead off the inning and then Petersen slapped an RBI single. Crowl later lifted a sacrifice fly to score DellaValle. A batter later, Gunter roped a double to the left-center field gap that brought home Abushala and Peterson.
Peters (2-1) would close out the game by retiring six of the next seven batters.
Smith (2-1) suffered his first loss of the year after allowing just one run on six hits over 6.0 innings.
Gunter led CLU by going 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Abushala also had two hits and scored three times.
With the split, Chapman moves to 7-6 overall and 6-3 in the SCIAC.
Cal Lutheran (6-2, 5-1 SCIAC) has a quick turnaround as it hosts Redlands on Friday, March 7 in the series opener. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m.
Game 1 Box Score: CU 12 CLU 9
Game 2 Box Score: CLU 6 CU 0
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