THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Playing in their 10th game in 12 days, the Cal Lutheran baseball team snapped a three-game losing streak after defeating Rutgers-Newark (N.J.) 13-4 at Ullman Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
The Kingsmen looked to get back on track in their second-to-last non-conference matchup of the season, after going just 1-3 at the Tucson Invitational, and they got off to a good start early on.
In the bottom of the first, Justin Caña led off with a walk and promptly stole second and third to set up Collin Crowl for an RBI single up the middle. After taking an early lead, CLU extended it even further after pouring out five runs in the third inning. The Kingsmen strung together five consecutive hits, capped off by a two-RBI triple from Nick Cohan, who proceeded to score on a passed ball. With two outs, third basemen Anthony Schirtz kept the inning alive with a walk and Nico Filice drove him in from first base with a double down the left field line giving CLU a 6-0 lead.
The Scarlet Raiders rallied to score four runs over the next three innings to get back into the game, but the Kingsmen responded with a rally of their own.
Filice sparked a seven-run sixth inning with a deep homerun to left field while Ramsey Abushahla added a sacrifice fly and Crowl had an RBI single to right. Later in the inning CLU loaded the bases for Schirtz, who blew the game wide open with a three-RBI double to the right center gap, and came around to score on a throwing error to give the Kingsmen the final 13-4 lead.
Trey Saito (5-1) picked up the win after starting the game and pitching three shutout innings, allowing just two hits and striking out two while Marshall Pautsch and Evan Peterson each pitched two innings of relief. Mitchell Shields and Landry Kiyabu shut down the Scarlet Raiders in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, to hold on to the win.
Filice and Crowl both went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored while Spencer DuBois, Gabe Gunter, Max Price and Caña all added two hits in the game. Caña terrorized the Scarlet Raiders on the base paths on his way to a career-high four stolen bases.
Cal Lutheran (15-4) will be back in action at Ullman Stadium this Friday, Mar. 20 in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) matchup against Redlands at 3:00 p.m.
Box Score: CLU 13, RN 4
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