THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - A long day at the ballpark on the second day of the Second Annual Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Baseball Post Season Tournament hosted by Cal Lutheran at George "Sparky" Anderson Field inside of Ullman Stadium started with four squads and saw a pair of teams eliminated. Just Cal Lutheran and Chapman remain and will meet tomorrow, Sunday, May 4, in the title tilt with an NCAA Division III Playoff berth on the line.
In the morning game, Whittier walked-off with a 5-4 victory over La Verne. In the second game on Saturday, host, but serving as the visiting team, Cal Lutheran downed Chapman 6-2. The nightcap featured CU and WC with the Panthers powering past the Poets, 14-4, as they live to play another day.
In the 8:30 a.m. game, No. 3 Whittier was the designated home team while No. 4 La Verne was the visitor. The majority of the game was an even battle with each team scoring once through the first six innings. LV tacked on one in the seventh and pushed across a pair in the eighth for a 4-1 advantage going into the final half inning, which set the stage for late dramatics from WC.
In a tied game, with two men on, two outs and a 2-2 count on senior Poets third baseman Julian Barzilli, the three-hole hitter ripped a single to left field to drive in Stephen Zavala, sending the Poets into an afternoon match-up while the La Verne season came to a close.
The comeback effort in the bottom of the ninth was sparked by a walk from Jonathan Whipple and a pinch-hit RBI single from Willie Renard that ended LV starting pitcher Kevin Knight's day after 8.1 innings. The Leos hurler struck out five and allowed just one earned run, but finished with a no decision. Phil Schick came in from the bullpen and was tagged for two hits, though the loss was handed to Brett Early (3-5) after being responsible for both the tying and winning runs.
Through two and a half innings the teams were scoreless with two hits apiece, but in the bottom of the third WC put up a crooked number and in the top of the fourth LV responded as the leadoff man for each team reached and scored.
WC used a single from Graham Pimm and a sacrifice bunt before a LV error allowed Pimm to advance to third. Barzilli lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield to plate the first run of the day. LV catcher Joe Winterburn and shortstop Woody Reyes joined forces to throw out a would-be-base-stealer to end the inning.
For La Verne in the top of the fourth Pedro Espinoza drew a walk, advancing to second on a sac bunt and moving up 90 more feet on a single to the right side off the bat of George Holland. A fielder's choice, that WC shortstop Armando Zaldez made a diving stop and got the ball quickly over to Pimm at second base for the force out, scored Espinoza with the equalizing run. The final out of the stanza came on a unique 1-4-3 putout that ricocheted off first baseman Ben White to Pimm who flipped to Knight covering.
Another great defensive play in the bottom of the fourth came on a single up the middle from Whippleas Reyes dove behind the bag to hold runners at first and second, which ultimately saved a run as the next out was by way of a deep fly ball that would have scored the second WC run of the game. Instead, Knight worked out of the inning with a pop-up to short. Again in the fifth, Pimm spearheaded a 4-6-3 double play for the first two outs of the inning and Knight got a fly ball for the third.
While Knight cruised, Curtis Martin ran into trouble in the seventh. A single from Reyesand an RBI double down the left field line from Nolan Henley put the Leopards on top and ran Martin (6-4) from the game after 6.1 innings despite striking out five and scattering just six hits for the Poets. Cerami traded his outfield mitt for a pitching glove and came on to record the final two outs via a pop-up and a fly ball.
In the eighth he was not so lucky, as the Leopards used a two-out rally to score a pair on back-to-back RBI hits from Holland and Josh Surdo with Holland collecting the third LV extra base hit of the game with a double. Cerami (6-0) would, however, go on to earn the win.
The La Verne (19-22) season came to a close on a day when the Leopards collected 10 total hits with two apiece from Henley, Holland and Mark Jebbia. Four different players scored and Surdo finished with two RBIs.
Whittier was led in the opening game by Barzilli, Pimm and Corey Jensen as each recorded two hits. Five different Poets players scored and Barzilli was responsible for driving in a pair. Whipple earned the only two walks of the day for WC.
The second game of the afternoon was scoreless through four and Cal Lutheran nearly blanked Chapman, but the Panthers scored twice in the ninth to spoil the shutout opportunity. Jake Petersen (8-2) threw a complete game with his last pitch faster than his first, clocking in at 90-miles-per-hour, as he struck out five including the last batter of the game.
At the plate, Petersen contributed as well, reaching base three times with two hits and a walk, going on to score once to aid his own cause. Gabe Gunter was the only other Kingsmen player with a multi-hit game, as the Violet and Gold collected a total of 10, but Nicho DellaValle reached base a team-leading four times via a hit and three walks and scored a pair of runs for CLU. Collin Crowl drove in two with a hit, also scoring a run in the win.
In the top of the fifth, CLU put up a crooked number after the first two batters reached. DellaValle drew a walk and Petersensingled to right, which allowed Ramsey Abushahla to sacrifice them over. Crowlwent on to drive in DellaValle with the first run of the game as he reached on a fielder's choice.
Déjà vu ensued in the top of the seventh when Cal Lutheran broke things open. DellaValle singled before Petersen and Abushahla each walked to put the bat in back in Crowl's hands. Before he could step into the box, starting pitcher Travis McGee was lifted, though. Crowl promptly drove in his second run of the game with a single to right field off senior reliever Taber Watson and Davey Casciola followed suit with an RBI single to the same spot. A fielding error allowed Abushahla to score and Chapman catcher David Basen attempted to gun down pinch runner Nick Cohan stealing, but the ball sailed into centerfield and Casciola crossed the plate for the fifth run of the inning and final one of the contest.
With a comfortable lead, Petersen went back to work and despite allowing two hits and throwing a wild pitch in the ninth he hung on for the victory.
McGee (6-1) worked 6.1 innings in which he struck out six CLU players, but walked seven. The Chapman offense was sparked by Andrew Carabajal who was 4-for-4 with nearly half of the Panthers' hits and the lone run, scoring on an RBI from Tim Alhanati. John Wiehe also had a two-hit game for CU and Mark Saatzer drew two of the four walks in the game.
The final match-up of the day was a blowout as Chapman exploded for 14 runs on 20 hits. The Panthers plated at least one run in each of the first five innings, with a four-spot in the third. CU seized control from the get-go and never looked back, though WC made some noise in the bottom of the sixth and finished with 10 hits as a team.
For the Panthers, Carabajal added three more base knocks for a seven-hit day. Connor Battaglia, Tyler Cook and Greg Dillon also each got three hits in the game and combined for five runs and nine RBIs, with Battaglia pacing the group by driving in four. Saatzer alone scored four times for CU.
Defensively,Basenwas part of two plays at the plate. The first was a 1-2-3 double play to end the second inning and the other was a tag out at the plate on a laser from Carabajal in left field for the third out of the seventh.
Whittier (21-21) finishes at .500 overall. Zavala used a double down the left field line in the sixth inning to clear the bases for three of the four Poets runs. Cerami, Whipple and Renard tallied two hits apiece in the loss.
Cal Lutheran (33-8) and Chapman (30-12) will square off tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. for a chance to represent the SCIAC at the national level in the NCAA Playoffs.
Box Score: WC 5, LV 4
Box Score: CLU 6, CU 2
Box Score: CU 14, WC 4
Tournament Central: 2014 SCIAC Post Season Baseball Tournament
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