CLAREMONT, Calif. - The No. 5 Cal Lutheran baseball team continued its hot hitting on Friday afternoon with an 11-1 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at Arce Field.
A week after pouring out 50 hits and 48 runs in a series sweep against Caltech, the Kingsmen added 17 more hits and 11 runs against a Stags team that is winless on the season.
Evan Peterson (2-1) started on the bump for CLU and went seven strong innings allowing just one earned run while striking out nine. The junior righty scattered six hits and held CMS to just one hit in 13 at bats with runners on base.
After a scoreless first inning, the Kingsmen got the scoring started in the top of the second. Gabe Gunter led off the inning with a single and advanced into scoring position after a walk to Nick Cohan. Collin Crowl continued his torrid start to the year with a single to left center to bring Gunter home for a 1-0 lead.
CMS responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning after a two-out double from Jackson Umberger cashed in MacKenzie Menthen, who led off with a single. Peterson regrouped to get the final out of the inning and still managed to strike out the side.
Tied 1-1 in the third inning, the Violet and Gold surged ahead with a four-run inning courtesy of a two-RBI triple from Gunter, who came around to score after an error on the play. Max Price added an RBI single to score Spencer DuBois, who led off the inning with a single to right center, and CLU took a 5-1 lead.
Another RBI single from Price in the fourth inning, and a two-RBI single from DuBois in the fifth put the Kingsmen ahead with a firm 8-1 lead.
Leading big heading into the ninth inning, CLU tacked on three more runs after RBI base hits from Caña and Price, and a sacrifice fly from Kyle Sanchez.
Connor Sipes pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Nate Wehner shut down the Stags in the ninth to secure the victory for the Kingsmen.
Gunter, Price and DuBois each tallied three hits in the game, while Price led the way with three RBIs and Gunter and DuBois tied for a team-high with two runs scored. Ramsey Abushahla, Crowl and Sanchez each had two hits and Caña along with Austin Kay recorded one hit.
Cal Lutheran (9-1, 6-1 SCIAC) will round out the season series against CMS tomorrow, Mar. 7 when they welcome the Stags to Ullman Stadium for a doubleheader set to begin at 11:00 a.m.
Box Score: CLU 11, CMS 1
CLU Twitter: https://twitter.com/clusports ?
Follow Justin and Connor: https://twitter.com/CLUBaseball ?
CLU Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clusports?
CLU Instagram: http://instagram.com/clusports#
