THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Jake Petersen reached base five time including two doubles but two big Redlands innings and several offensive miscues cost No. 12 Cal Lutheran the series opener with the Bulldogs Friday as the Kingsmen fell 7-5 in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action at Ullman Stadium. The CLU offense couldn't quite get the timely hitting as the Kingsmen stranded 11 base runners. Petersen and Ramsey Abushahla combined for five hits and three doubles but the rest of the Kingsmen order went just 5-for-26 (.192) at the plate.
Trailing 7-5 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Cal Lutheran got runners on first and second with no outs after Nico Filice was hit by a pitch and Chris Whitmer walked. Unfortunately for the Kingsmen, Justin Cana's sacrifice-bunt in the next at-bat went down the third base line, allowing Bulldogs' pitcher Mark Tumlinson to throw Filice out at third for the first out of the inning. Following a fly-out, Josh Makler replaced Tumlinson on the mound and intentionally walked Petersen to load the bases but then induced a ground-ball to the second baseman, allowing the Bulldogs to get out of the inning unscathed.
The inning before, Cal Lutheran cut it to a two-run lead when Petersen led off the with a double and was thenbrought home off a double from Abushahla. After Abushahla advanced to third on a wild-pitch, Collin Crowl was robbed of a base-hit when he lined out to the shortstop. Gabe Gunter would then drive Abushahla on an RBI ground-out and Davey Casciola kept the rally going when he walked but just three pitches into the next at-bat he was caught stealing to end the inning.
Despite trailing Cal Lutheran 2-0 headed into the top of the third, Redlands broke through with four-run inning to take the lead. Christopher Scalisi and Nathan Bowker both reached to lead off the inning then the Bulldogs when Alex Scheiwe walked. Cal Lutheran got a bad bounce during the next at-bat when Jordan Dresner hit a comebacker to Petersen, who jumped and had it nick off his glove and out of reach, allowing Scalisi to score. Connor Hancock then doubled to left fielder, scoring two more Bulldogs. Redlands got another RBI ground-out before heading to the bottom of the inning up 4-2.
The Bulldogs would tack on three more runs in the top of the seventh when Sean McMillan had an RBI-double and then was later brought in on a triple from Hancock. Redlands followed that by executing a squeeze play that scored Hancock and put the Bulldogs up 7-3.
Redlands' starting pitcher Hayden Haight (1-1) earned his first collegiate victory after going 7.0 innings and giving up four earned runs while striking out two. Makler earned his first save of the season after pitching the final 1.1 innings.
Petersen (3-1) suffers his first loss of the season after allowing seven runs on 10 hits in 6.1 innings. The senior also struck out four Redlands batters. Aaron Roth pitched the final 2.2 innings in scoreless fashion and lowered his season ERA to 1.00.
At the plate, the Bulldogs were led by Hancock who had three RBIs and Scalisi who tallied four hits.
With two more Friday, nine of Petersen's 21 hits are doubles. Spencer DuBois had two infield singles and while Casciola added a double.
With the win, Redlands improves to 6-9 overall and 5-5 in the SCIAC.
Cal Lutheran (6-3, 5-2 SCIAC) will look to win its 11th consecutive conference series when it travels to Redlands on Saturday, March 8. Game one of the doubleheader is set for 11:00 a.m.
Box Score: UR 7 CLU 5
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