THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - After opening the series against Redlands with a 6-2 victory on Friday in the rain, the Cal Lutheran baseball team dropped a pair of hard fought games in extra innings 2-1 and 5-3 against the Bulldogs inside Ullman Stadium on a clear and sunny Saturday afternoon.
In the first game of the day, the Bulldogs broke through with a run in third after a leadoff double was cashed in on an RBI single later in the inning. Meanwhile, Redlands starting pitcher Michael Collins kept the Kingsmen offense at bay with a dominant pitching performance turning in a near no-hitter.
With two outs in the eighth inning, CLU finally broke through as Chad Clark poked a base hit just past the third basemen's outstretched glove. The Kingsmen, however, were unable to capitalize on the opportunity and entered the ninth still trailing 1-0.
In the bottom of the ninth, Justin Caña led off with a clutch double to left field to get things started for the Violet and Gold. After a successful sacrifice bunt by Trey Saito moved Caña to third, Davey Casciola was intentionally walked to put runners on the corners. The Bulldogs brought in their closer, John White, but Ramsey Abushahala hit one off the end of the bat to right field to bring home Caña and tie the game. A strikeout and a flyout for CLU ended the inning and sent the game into extras.
In the top of the tenth, the Bulldogs leadoff batter reached on a walk and came around to score the winning run on a double to centerfield by Nathan Bowker.
White (2-0) earned the victory with 1.2 strong innings in relief after allowing just one hit while striking out two. Collins went 8.1 innings and gave up just two hits while striking out five.
Evan Peterson started for the Kingsmen and earned a no decision after five innings pitched, five hits, one earned run, three walks and two strikeouts. Ryan Bill tossed four shutout innings of relief, and Nate Wehner (1-3) was pegged with the loss after allowing the go-ahead run in the tenth.
In the second game, another pitching battle ensued early on until the Kingsmen got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Caña led off the inning with a single to right field and moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt by C. Clark. Casciola stepped up to the plate and doubled to right center to score Caña and then Abushahla drove in Casciola with a single to give CLU a 2-0 lead.
The Bulldogs would respond in the top of the sixth with a huge three-run homerun off the bat of Mark Tumlins to put Redlands ahead 3-2.
In the bottom of the eighth, after Caña got things going with his third hit of the game and a stolen base, the Kingsmen would capitalize on a costly error with two outs allowing Caña to come around and tie the game at 3-3.
Both teams were held scoreless in the tenth, and in the 11th the Bulldogs hit two deep homeruns to take a 5-3 lead and secure the doubleheader sweep.
After hitting the go-ahead homerun in the 11th, John Keane (1-1) earned the win after going 2.2 shutout innings and White picked up the save after closing the door in the bottom of the 11th.
Landry Kiyabu (0-1) picked up the loss after allowing five hits and two earned runs in 3.2 innings. Marshall Pautsch started the game for CLU and went seven innings allowing six hits and three earned runs while striking out four.
At the plate, Caña led the way with a 3-for-5 performance in the second game and Casciola added two hits and an RBI.
Cal Lutheran (9-6, 6-3SCIAC) will head to Tucson, Ariz. for a four-game road trip beginning this Thursday, Mar. 17 against Wesleyan (Conn.) at 4:00 p.m.
Box Score: UR 2, CLU 1 (10)
Box Score: UR 5, CLU 3 (11)
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