THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - On a windy afternoon, the second-to-last Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) series of the season pitted Cal Lutheran against La Verne on George "Sparky" Anderson Field in a rematch of the 2015 SCIAC Postseason Tournament finale, which went to the Leopards. Today, the Kingsmen avenged that loss with an 8-5 win today inside of Ullman Stadium.
As league play winds down, every game matters and Cal Lutheran made sure to put a "W" in the books. Once the offense heated up, the Kingsmen collected 10 hits with three apiece from Chad Clark and Eddie Villegas. C. Clark drove in four and connected for a homerun while Villegas was 3-for-3 and reached base four times overall.
CLU made some noise in the bottom of the second, but left the bases loaded. With two down in the second Justin Caña became the first base runner for CLU after reaching on a catcher's interference and Villegasstroked a single to left, bringing up Max Price who drew a walk, though all three would be stranded.
Scoreless through a pair, La Verne struck first, plating a run in the top of the third. Although LV had an opportunity to score another on a fly ball to right field, CLU inked a 9-2-5 double play to cut down the runner who hesitated between third and the plate to end the threat.
La Verne added a second run on a well-executed suicide squeeze to increase its lead to 2-0 in the top of the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth frame, the second CLU hit of the day was an important one as C. Clarkdefied the wind, notching a three-run homerun that cleared the left field wall, plating a pair, including Villegas who singled, to give CLU a 3-2 advantage.
Cal Lutheran tacked on another three after a single from Villegas and double from Price, which knocked La Verne starting pitcher Brent Backlund from the hill, were followed by a Davey Casciola two-run double. C. Clark added to his productive day with an RBI single to increase the lead to 6-2 for the Violet and Gold.
The Leopards clawed back with three in the top of the seventh on a trio of hits and a CLU error to get within one at 6-5 and again the Kingsmen responded. The home team pieced together two more runs with some help from the LV bullpen as two players earned walks while another pair was hit by pitches. After seven Cal Lutheran was ahead 8-5, a score that would hold until the end.
Starting pitcher Trey Saito (8-2) worked 6.0 innings, scattering seven hits and allowing four runs while striking out two to earn the win. Nate Wehner worked 1.0 inning of hitless baseball and Landry Kiyabu came in to record the final five outs, striking out a pair and surrendering just one hit for his sixth save of the year.
Defensively, CLU turned a pair of double plays today and Price tallied seven touches with a putout and six assists.
La Verne (16-14, 9-10 SCIAC) looked to senior Ben White for three of the 10 Leos hits today and Christopher Peres notched two. Anthony Braun was tagged with the loss after throwing 1.0 innings, allowing three runs on three hits with a walk and hit batter after relieving Backlund who got a no-decision.
In an evenly matched game, both teams finished with 10 hits and each stranded 11 runners.
Cal Lutheran (21-9, 15-4) and La Verne continue the series tomorrow, Saturday, May 16, at La Verne for two beginning at 11:00 a.m.
Box Score: CLU 8, LV 5
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