THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - In their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opener, the Cal Lutheran baseball team topped Chapman 5-2 for its first home victory of the season inside Ullman Stadium on Friday afternoon.
Trey Saito and Panthers ace Matt Smith settled into a pitchers duel for the early innings of the game before the Kingsmen broke through in the bottom of the fourth.
With one out and Gabe Gunter on first after drawing a walk, Chad Clark broke up Smith's no-hitter with a single through the left side. With two runners on, Eddie Villegas stepped up to the plate and drove a base hit up the middle to score Gunter for the first run of the game. After a double steal from Clark and Villegas a groundout by Austin Kay gave CLU a 2-0 lead.
Chapman responded with a run in the top of the fifth after its first three batters reached base and a groundout brought one home.
Leading 2-1, Sinjin Todd led of the fifth for CLU after getting hit by a pitch and Davey Casciola promptly followed with a single to left field. After both runners advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch, Gunter came up clutch with a two-out, two-RBI single to right to put the Violet and Gold ahead 4-1.
The Panthers scraped a run across in the top of the eighth, but the Kingsmen responded with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single from Clark.
Landry Kiyabu struck out two in the bottom of the ninth to notch the save.
Saito (2-1) earned the win after throwing 7.1 innings, scattering six hits and allowing just one earned run while Smith (1-2) picked up the loss after going five innings, allowing four runs on four hits and walking three.
At the plate, Villegas and Clark led the way with two hits and an RBI apiece while Gunter and Casciola added the other hits for CLU.
Cal Lutheran (3-3, 1-0 SCIAC) will wrap up the series with Chapman (4-6, 2-2 SCIAC) on the road tomorrow, Feb. 26 for a doubleheader starting at 11:00 a.m.
Box Score: CLU 5, CU 2
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