THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - On a sunny Sunday at Cal Lutheran, the Third Annual Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Baseball Tournament champion was crowned as Cal Lutheran blanked La Verne 14-0 in the morning forcing a seventh game that went to the Leopards by a 4-2 margin.
LV made a 3-1 run through the tournament as the fourth-seed and returns to the NCAA Division III Playoffs for the first time since 2012 while CLU went 3-2 and will now await their selection fate on Monday, May 11. La Verne becomes the second SCIAC team to clinch a SCIAC Postseason title, joining two-time champion Cal Lutheran.
To open the day, each team got runners on in the first frame, but it was the designated visiting Kingsmen who broke through first. Gabe Gunter led off the top of the second with a double. With two outs and runners at the corners, Justin Caña stroked a two-RBI double down the left field line for the first crooked numbers of the day, which turned into the winning run.
In the bottom of the second, CLU starting pitcher Nate Wehner struck out the first two batters he faced, one looking and the other swinging. Although the Leopards strung together a pair of hits, the freshman hurler forced a ground ball to Jeff Rebello at second base and his flip to Max Price covering the bag ended the threat.
A pitcher's duel ensued. In the top of the seventh, Cal Lutheran loaded the bases, but with two outs a visit to the mound from LV head coach Scott Winterburn settled the Leopards down and Mark Jebbia earned a strike out to leave three Kingsmen stranded unable to extends their lead.
Wehner, who eventually improved to 2-0 in just his second career start, worked 7.0 innings, scattering three hits, which all came in the first two innings. Between the third and seventh he held the Leopards hitless and faced just two batters over the minimum.
Things came together for CLU in the top of the eight when Gunter drew a leadoff walk, knocking Jebbia from the hill as Alex Bernstein took over. Pinch runner Sinjin Todd came in to replace Gunter and he would represent the third run of the day for CLU as the sophomore rounded the bases on a Rebello single to the right side. Caña drove in the second baseman, which also ended Bernstein's day as CLU doubled its lead to 4-0. On the next pitch, Caña swiped second and two pitches later Spencer DuBois lined a single to center, scoring the CLU leadoff man. Kyle Sanchez extended the inning and put men on the corners. After Ramsey Abushahla was hit by a pitch to load the bases again Casciola saw one strike in the left handed batter's box and when LV made a pitching change, the Kingsmen first baseman turned around to bat righty against southpaw Diego Cortez. On the second pitch, both balls, DuBois scurried home on a wild pitch and the other runners moved up 90 feet prior to Casciola earning a four-pitch walk. Todd came up first pitch swinging and drove in two more for an 8-0 lead during a six-run inning.
Mitchell Shields took over on the bump in the bottom of the eighth and forced three consecutive ground ball outs to put the bats back in the hands of the Violet and Gold.
In the top of the ninth, the hot hitting continued as Cal Lutheran strung together five more , with three walks mixed in, for six additional runs in an inning that saw too many pitching changes and substitutions to count.
Connor Sipes closed the door unscathed although Ben White doubled and Jakob Thomas walked reached scoring position in the final half inning.
The championship game was more of the same to start with Caña leading off the day with a single up the middle and after a DuBois sacrifice Sanchez drove in the first run of the game for another quick lead. Bernstein was back on the hill for the start in the afternoon contest and after throwing 11 consecutive balls to load the bases, he got a ground ball to end the CLU threat.
In the second, CLU increased its lead to 2-0 as Rebello singled and scored on a Sanchez RBI hit to the right side of the field. Again, however, the Kingsmen stranded three runners, unable to increase their lead.
The advantage was cut in half in the next half inning as the Leopards pushed across their first run of the day on a Thompson sacrifice fly to deep right field, plating Zachary Quinones who reached with a leadoff walk.
Starting the first game of his career at CLU, Landry Kiyabu, the everyday closer, went 4.2 innings with three strikeouts and one hit that resulted in one run before he handed the ball to Scott Peters in a role reversal. With one on and two down, Peters walked the first batter he faced out of the bullpen, but battled back for a called third strike to end the inning.
To lead off the top of the sixth, Nolan Henley hit a ball off the right field wall for a double, though he would only get as far as third. After a 1-2-3 inning for Nick Byrd in the bottom of the frame, the Leopards made some noise in the top of the seventh.
A hit batter was followed by another Thomas single and a walk, bringing up Jared Hovsepian. An attempted suicide squeeze created a great defensive play by Casciola who barehanded the bunt on one hop and fired to DuBois to get the lead runner at the dish. Henley then laced an RBI single to left and the sequence of events that followed would create controversy. A laser to the plate halted Jebbia, the lead runner, and when the player rounding second continued to advance a rundown ensued between both locations, ending with Jebbia and DuBois both diving into third base. The Leopards left fielder was called safe and Woody Reyes promptly drove in two as the visiting team took a 4-2 lead. Evan Peterson forced a ground ball for the final out of the frame.
The final two innings on both sides were quiet as Byrd (5-4) cruised, earning the win after working 7.2 innings and scattering just four hits while striking out four. In the bottom of the ninth he retired the side in order to prompt his teammates to dogpile in celebration.
Cal Lutheran (32-12) left 10 men on base and was unable to generate runs when the opportunity to do so presented itself. Peters (6-4) was tagged with the loss in his final appearance at home. Sanchez had a 3-for-4 game, driving in both CLU runs, and was the only player on the roster with a multi-hit performance.
La Verne (24-18) had just six hits in the game with Henley and Andrew Douglas recording a pair apiece while Reyes drove in two. In the double dip, LV collected 10 hits and four runs as Henley led the way with three hits
Overall, CLU notched 16 runs on 25 hits. Sanchezwas 7-for-9 at the plate including a pair of doubles, adding a walk and a hit by pitch for an .818 on base percentage and a .778 average while driving in four and scoring twice. Defensively, he provided five putouts at third base. Cañahad a four-hit day and DuBoisand Rebelloeach contributed three hits and Rebello tallied three runs to lead the Kingsmen. Cañaand Todd each drove in three.
SCIAC Post Season Tournament Schedule:
Game 1: La Verne def. Cal Lutheran 12-3
Game 2: Redlands def. Pomona-Pitzer 10-4
Game 3: Cal Lutheran def. Pomona-Pitzer 10-0
Game 4: La Verne def. Redlands 5-2
Game 5: Cal Lutheran def. Redlands 9-3
Game 6: Cal Lutheran def. La Verne 14-0
Game 7: La Verne def. CLU 4-2
Tournament Central: 2015 SCIAC Postseason Baseball Tournament
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