THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - On a sunny and clear, yet windy, Friday afternoon inside of Ullman Stadium, the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) No. 22 Cal Lutheran baseball team opened its 2016 season against Whitworth (Wash.). A sour start to the season came with an 8-2 loss as the Kingsmen were unable to generate any offense while using six pitchers.
Making his CLU debut today and earning starts were Chad Clark, Weston Clark, Eddie Villegas and Max Weinstein. Also stepping on the field for the first time in Violet and Gold were Jimmy Jauregui who pinch hit in the sixth inning and Ryan Bill who earned the final out of the game.
The first run of the day came from the visiting team. With two men down in the second, a pass ball with a runner on third and an RBI single gave the Pirates a 2-0 lead, which would ultimately hold for the remainder of the game. Marshall Pautsch came in to relieve starting pitcher Trey Saito and forced a fly ball to end the inning.
Davey Casciola made a diving snag at third base for the first out in the top of the fourth, which ended with a pickoff by Pautsch with W. Clarkapplying the tag to highlight the defense today.
Casciola collected the first hit of the spring on a perfectly placed bunt. He also reached on an error to start the seventh and came around for the first run of the season on an RBI single from W. Clark who also reached base twice in the game, earning the only walk of the contest for CLU. In his Cal Lutheran debut, Villegashad two of the four Kingsmen hits in the nine-hole as the catcher.
Saito (0-1) lasted just 1.2 innings, allowing two runs on four hits while walking a pair. Pautsch took over and worked 4.1 innings, surrendering a trio of runs despite striking out three. Evan Peterson worked an inning, Mitchell Shields took the ball for 1.1 innings and both Tyler Nevins and Billtossed a third of an inning apiece.
Whitworth (1-0) finished with 14 hits. Jacob Yamane was 4-for-5 with three runs and an RBI and both Daniel Casanova and Garrett Hughes had two hits. Ryan Kingma (1-0) earned the win after scattering three hits and one run over 7.0 innings. Hugh Smith came in for the final two frames.
CLU has not dropped a season opener since 2006.
Cal Lutheran (1-0) will be back on the diamond at George "Sparky" Anderson Field tomorrow to host NAIA Westmont for a single game beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Box Score: WHTW 8, CLU 2
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