THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Beneath gray, rainy skies the No. 8 Cal Lutheran baseball team returned to action against Puget Sound of the Northwest Conference. The home team took the only game of a scheduled doubleheader by a score of 7-3 despite heavy rains falling over the last three innings. Following a nearly two hour weather delay the teams were unable to take the field for the second game, which has been officially cancelled.
Just as they did on opening day, the Kingsmen struck first by generating a run on a pair of UPS errors coupled with a single from Max Price and a sacrifice bunt off the bat of Kyle Sanchez.
A leadoff double by Nathan Backles in the top of the second provided the start to an equalizing run for the Loggers as he came in to score on an RBI single from Layn Croney. An inning later UPS got the upper hand when the frame started with a hit from leadoff batter Connor Savage and a single up the middle from Chris Zeiro plated the go-ahead run.
Cal Lutheran responded in the bottom of the third. Gabe Gunter singled and advanced to second on a throwing error and came in to score the tying run on a Davey Casciola single up the middle to earn the Violet and Gold a 3-2 advantage.
CLU strung together a pair of scoring innings in the fifth and sixth and opened the game up with five total runs on seven hits to take a 7-2 lead. Gunter collected a pair of singles and scored twice more to finish 3-for-5 with three runs and an RBI. Kyle Sanchez notched a one-out triple in the sixth, knocking UPS starting pitcher Collin Maier from the hill, and he came in to score on the second of Gunter's singles. Casciola collected hits in each inning with a single in the fifth and a double that nearly left the yard in the sixth. Collin Crowl stroked a two-RBI single for the final two runs of the game for the host squad.
Puget Sound added a third run in the eighth. Nick Funyak doubled down the left field line and came in to score on a Cal Lutheran throwing error.
Trey Saito (1-0) went 7.0 innings, striking out three. He scattered nine hits and surrendered the first two runs. Landry Kiyabu came in from the bullpen in the eighth and struck out one. Leading the offensive attack were Gunter and Casciola who were each 3-for-5 as they combined for two RBIs and five runs scored. Serving as the designated hitter, Crowl also had a multi-hit game with a pair and the drove in three.
Maier (0-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing five runs, four of them earned, on eight hits over 5.1 innings though he struck out six and walked just one. Joshua Zavisbuin threw the final 2.0 innings for UPS.
Cal Lutheran (2-0) will be back on George "Sparky" Anderson Field inside of Ullman Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 8 for a single game against Whitworth (Wash.) to round out opening weekend. Teams will take the field for an 11:00 a.m. first pitch.
Box Score: CLU 7, UPS 3
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