THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Sitting in a four-way tie for third place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) entering Friday afternoon, the Cal Lutheran baseball team moved up the standings with a 6-5 walk-off victory in the tenth inning over Occidental at Ullman Stadium.
Tied 5-5 in the bottom of the tenth with two down and the bases loaded, Max Price legged out a dribbler to third base while Ramsey Abushahla raced home from third to score the game-winning run.
With the win, the Kingsmen improve their conference record to 15-7 and move into a second place tie with Pomona-Pitzer. The walk-off victory is their third this season, all coming at George "Sparky" Anderson Field, and they are 3-1 in extra inning games.
Both teams took turns with the lead in what was truly a seesaw affair, with the Kingsmen opening the scoring in the bottom of the first. Justin Caña led off the inning with a line drive single just out of the shortstops reach, and Spencer DuBois followed with a slow rolling infield single towards second. Ramsey Abushahla came up and poked a base hit to right field to score Caña and give the Kingsmen a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the third inning, the Tigers pounced back on top to take a 2-1 lead after capitalizing on two early walks. Jonathan Brooks tied the game with an RBI single up the middle and Victor Munoz laid down a bunt to bring home the go-ahead run.
CLU regained the lead with a three-run fifth inning, highlighted by a two-RBI triple from Davey Casciola, but Oxy knotted the score at 4-4 with two runs on three hits in the seventh.
Looking to break the tie in the ninth inning, the Tigers loaded the bases but Landry Kiyabu came out of the bullpen and got CLU out of the jam. The Kingsmen, however, went down 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the ninth to send the game into extras.
Oxy opened the tenth frame with a leadoff double followed later by a bloop double down the right field line to break the deadlock and give the Tigers a 5-4 lead.
Needing a run to stay alive, the Violet and Gold loaded the bases after a pair of walks and a hit by pitch in the bottom of the tenth inning. With two outs, Collin Crowl drew a walk to bring home the tying run, and Price followed with the game-winner on an infield single.
Scott Ericksen (4-1) picked up his first loss of the year while Landry Kiyabu (3-2) earned the win after two steady innings of relief for the Kingsmen.
Caña, Casciola and DuBois led CLU at the plate with two hits apiece and Abushahla finished 1-for-4 with a team-high two runs scored, including the game-winning run.
Cal Lutheran (23-10, 15-7 SCIAC) will wrap up the series with a doubleheader tomorrow, Apr. 18 at Occidental starting at 11:00 a.m.
Box Score: CLU 6, OXY 5 (10)
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