THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - On a day dedicated to raising awareness for childhood cancer, the fans filled the stands in gold while the Kingsmen salvaged a doubleheader split on the field against Whittier. CLU dropped the series opener on Friday, 9-5, and fell in game one on Saturday, 7-6, before claiming a 9-3 victory over the Poets in game two.
Joining forces with Cancer Fit, Inc. the baseball team wore gold jerseys, the color to recognize childhood cancer, and a large crowd was on hand to support the Kingsmen. Eight-year old team member Kyle O'Connor, who was drafted to the team through the MVP Sports Draft program, served as the honorary captain in the game and threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The MVP Sports Draft program helps to match childhood cancer survivors with a high school or college team in the Southern California area.
After dropping the first two games of the series, the Kingsmen entered the final game looking to avoid their first series sweep since 2012.
Gabe Gunter scored a run in the second inning to put CLU on the board first, and the Kingsmen extended their early lead with three more in the fourth.
Max Price led off the inning with a single to left field and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Spencer DuBois. A single through the left side from Nick Cohan brought Price in to score and Kyle Sanchez later singled home Cohan. To cap off the scoring in the inning, Ramsey Abushahla hit a screamer down the right field line for a double, and an errant throw from the Poets allowed Sanchez to score and gave CLU a 4-0 lead.
Whittier strung together a few hits to add three runs in the fifth and sixth innings but RBI hits from Cohan and Sinjin Todd in the fifth and seventh inning, respectively, put the Kingsmen ahead 6-3.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Violet and Gold put the game away for good with a two-RBI triple from Jeff Rebello and an RBI single from Price.
Starting pitcher Marshall Pautsch improved his record to 3-1 this season after going seven innings and scattering 10 hits, while allowing just three earned runs and striking out four. Landry Kiyabu entered the game for Pautsch in the eighth and pitched two perfect innings of relief.
At the plate, Cohan finished 4-for-6 with two RBIs in the leadoff spot and Abushahla went 3-for-5. Collin Crowl, Jeff Rebello and Price each had two hits in the game and Price led the way with three runs scored.
Cal Lutheran (18-8, 10-5 SCIAC) continues conference action this Friday, Apr. 3 at Ullman Stadium against Pomona Pitzer at 3:00 p.m.
Box Score: WC 9, CLU 5
Box Score: WC 7, CLU 6
Box Score: CLU 9, WC 3
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