McMINNVILLE, Ore. - Playing under the lights for the first time of the spring, No. 5 Cal Lutheran dropped a 5-2 decision to Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the Second Round of the NCAA Division III Baseball Playoffs hosted at Linfield College as part of the McMinnville Regional this evening. It was the highest scoring game of the week thus far.
Though the Kingsmen quickly put up a crooked number with a Justin Caña leadoff infield single, a sacrifice bunt from Nicho DellaValle and an RBI double by Ramsey Abushahla, the momentum quickly shifted.
Unfortunately for the Violet and Gold, the Pointers rallied right back with a pair of runs on three consecutive singles, including a perfect hit-and-run, to take a 2-1 lead after the first frame.
The score would remain the same through the next three innings with some help from the CLU defense. Abushahla slipped in right field, but managed to make a phenomenal catch on his stomach in the second and the next out was a line drive back at Tyler Hebda on the hill. Catcher Spencer DuBois connected with Davey Casciola and DellaValle for the second and third outs of the third inning on runners caught stealing at third and second, respectively. Though an error allowed Bobby Gregorich to reach in the bottom of the fourth, Craig Jacobson, DellaValle and Collin Crowl combined for a 4-6-3 double play for the first two outs of the frame.
In the fifth, a throwing error pulled the UWSP first baseman off the bag allowed a hustling DellaValle to reach and he promptly stole second to put a man in scoring position for Abushahla. With two outs, the sophomore outfielder worked a walk and the duo advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch, though CLU was unable to score any runs.
The bottom of the fifth saw the Pointers plated another run when Jimmy Coady drove in Casey Barnes to give UWSP a 3-1 advantage.
Hebda (5-2) handed the ball to Landry Kiyabu with one out in the sixth and two pitches into his outing, DuBois threw out his third runner of the day, again teaming up with DellaValle. Kiyabu went on to get a ground ball to Crowl and a pop-up to Jacobson as part of his 2.0 inning evening in which he did not allow a hit or run and struck out two.
Chasing a pair with two more opportunities at the plate, Jake Petersen led off the top of the eighth with a single to right. Abushahla reached on an error and Petersen went to third. Crowl drove in the lead runner to cut the deficit to one, but that was all the offense the Kingsmen would muster, though they threatened in the top of the ninth with a leadoff pinch-hit single from Kyle Sanchez.
UWSP scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to stretch the gap to 5-2, which was the final, on two hits, a pair of fielder's choices, a sacrifice bunt and a delayed double-steal.
For CLU, Caña was the only player with a multi-hit game, recording two, one of which was a double. Abushahla had the only other extra-base hit of the game.
With the loss, Cal Lutheran drops to 1-1 in the tournament while Wisconsin-Stevens Point remains undefeated. The Pointers were led by a 3-for-4 day at the plate from Riley Spetz, who also scored twice, and Kyle McHugh who drove in two runs.
The first game of the day was an elimination game with LeTourneau (33-14) defeating Illinois Wesleyan (24-20), ending the Titans' season. The fourth one-run game of the weekend saw IWU jump out to a quick 2-0 first inning lead, but LTU would battle back with a run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit in half. A two-run eighth put the Yellow Jackets on top for good as they live to play another day. Curt Copeland (9-2) earned the victory with Jordan Price earning a save while John Munyon (3-2) was tagged with the loss after 7.1 innings.
In the 3:30 p.m. game, host Linfield (35-7) used a three-run third inning to seize control, though a solo homerun from Nick Fisher added an insurance run in the seventh, as the Wildcats defeated Trinity (Tex.) (33-10) to also end the season of the Tigers. The only TU run of the afternoon came in the top of the seventh inning. Aaron Thomassen (10-1) earned the win with Cody Walker notching the save, his fourth of the season. For Trinity, Michael Walker (4-3) was hit with the loss after going just 2.2 innings.
Cal Lutheran (35-9) will face LeTourneau tomorrow, Friday, May 16, at 3:30 p.m. on Roy Hesler Field inside of Jim Wright Stadium in a must-win game. The first game on day three of competition will feature a pair of unbeaten teams in host Linfield and Wisconsin-Stevens Point (30-11) at 12:00 p.m. The final contest of the evening will pit the winner of the LTU/CLU game against the loser of the LC/UWSP game under the lights at 7:00 p.m.
Both live stats and a live video broadcast will be available online.
Box Score: UWSP 5, CLU 2
McMinnville Regional Website: McMinnville Regional Tournament Information
Playoff Central: D3baseball.com Tournament Central
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clusports
CLU Twitter: https://twitter.com/clusports
Follow Nicho: @CLUBaseball
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clusports
CLU Instagram: http://instagram.com/clusports#
