THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The second Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) baseball series of the spring featured Cal Lutheran and Caltech with the Kingsmen defeating the Beavers 12-0, 18-1 and 18-0, all in seven innings, this weekend.
On Friday afternoon, CLU cruised to a 12-0 victory. The first and ultimate winning run came in the third inning when Gabe Gunter drove Max Price in with a single to right centerfield. The Kingsmen went on to score multiple runs in each of the final four innings with the biggest frame coming in the fifth with four runs. Overall, CLU combined for 16 hits led by Gunter and Collin Crowl with 3-for-4 days at the plate apiece. Nico Filice came off the bench to have a 2-for-3 showing at the plate, driving in three and scoring two times. Nick Cohan also had a 2-for-3 day and came around to score twice. On the hill, Scott Peters (3-0) went 5.0 innings, striking out five while scattering four hits. Tyler Nevins and Landry Kiyabu each tossed a scoreless inning as well and Kiyabu notched one strike out.
Saturday morning the team reconvened at Cal Lutheran for two. The second game of the series had a slow start, but ended in blowout fashion with 18 runs on 18 hits for the home team. Four Kingsmen finished with multi-hit games and Ramsey Abushahla led the way with a 3-for-3 game with five RBIs and two runs scored. Chris Whitmer also had a three-hit game, going 3-for-4 with both a pair of runs and RBIs. In his third start of the season, Trey Saito (3-0) went 4.0 innings for the win before handing the ball off to Connor Sipes for two innings and Mitchell Shields for the final frame. Each pitcher sat down two by way of strikeouts.
To close out the series, Evan Peterson (1-1) earned his first win for Cal Lutheran after working 4.0 innings, striking out two. His pitching effort was followed by 2.0 innings of action from Marshall Pautsch with Kiyabu finishing up the top of the seventh with one strike out. Offensively, Abushahla and Kyle Sanchez shared the team-lead with three hits apiece, each going 3-for-4 with four runs and a trio of RBIs. Crowl, Justin Caña and Brett Green all had two-hit games in the series finale as well and Crowl joined Abushahla and Sanchez with three RBIs.
Overall, CLU scored 48 runs on 50 hits, including 20 for extra bases. Abushahla was 7-for-10 for a .700 average and had four doubles, a triple and a homerun with nine RBIs. Also homering for the Kingsmen was Sanchez who went 6-for-9 on the weekend while also drawing three walks. Each of them scored seven times. Cana was 3-for-3 in stolen bases and Gunter swiped two bags. Defensively, Cal Lutheran turned three double plays and Crowl led the way with 17 putouts and an assist without an error. Whitmer and Erik Whittlesey had eight putouts apiece and Price tallied eight assists and four putouts in 12 touches.
Cal Lutheran (8-1, 5-1 SCIAC) will be back on the diamond next Friday, March 6 when the Kingsmen travel to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps for a single game at 2:30 p.m.
Box Score: CLU 18, CIT 0
Box Score: CLU 18, CIT 1
Box Score: CLU 12, CIT 0
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