REDLANDS, Calif. -Less than 24 hours after falling to Redlands on their home field, the Cal Lutheran Kingsmen baseball team rallied back for a Saturday Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) sweep to take the series 2-1. In the first game today CLU earned a 7-2 victory before shutting out the Bulldogs 16-0 in seven innings in the rubber game.
CLU struck first in game one, scoring in the second before plating the ultimate winning run in the fourth on a two-run double from Davey Casciola that scored both Collin Crowl and Ramsey Abushahla, who was also responsible for the first run of the game.
The Kingsmen would tack on another pair in the sixth as a Chris Whitmer triple sent Casciola and Crowl across the plate. Jake Petersen came around to score on a Kyle Sanchez double in the seventh for the final scoring of the day for the Kingsmen.
UR staged a come-back effort with a pair of RBI singles in the bottom of the seventh from Connor Hancock and Christian Conci, but that was as close as the Bulldogs would get. Tyler Hebda (2-1) earned the win after allowing nine hits and two runs, both earned. Senior closer Aaron Roth came on for the final 2.1 innings, striking out three and recording his third save of the spring.
Offensively, Crowl went 3-for-5 with two runs and Petersen, Whitmer and Nicho DellaValle each recorded two hits. Casciola, Sanchez and Whitmer drove in a pair apiece.
Game two featured another complete game shutout, shortened to seven innings, from Scott Peters (3-2) who scattered five hits and struck out a pair.
He got all the offense he would need in the first inning as CLU scored twice. Sanchez connected for a two-RBI double that scored Abushahla with his second winning run of the day, followed by Petersen.
Cal Lutheran went on to score three more in the second, but it was the fifth inning that saw the bats explode for the Violet and Gold. CLU sent 15 men to the plate and produced seven hits with three players drawing walks and one being hit by a pitch. Spencer DuBois stroked a bases clearing triple in the middle of the inning that scored Craig Jacobson, Casciola and Atherton Kniseley after both Jacobson and Kniseley worked walks in the frame and Casciola singled.
Overall, DellaVallewent 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a pair of runs as the leadoff man for CLU. Sanchez had a 3-for-5 game, driving in five runs and both Casciola and Gabe Gunter collected two hits with two runs and two RBIs, respectively.
Cal Lutheran (8-3, 7-2SCIAC) returns to George "Sparky" Anderson Field inside of Ullman Stadium on Sunday, March 9 for a single non-conference game against Drew (NJ). First pitch is set for 12:00 p.m.
Box Score: CLU 7, UR 2
Box Score: CLU 16, UR 0 (7)
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