LOS ANGELES, Calif. - In a battle for first place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), the No. 18 Cal Lutheran baseball team fell 4-1 to No. 8 Occidental (27-5, 19-3 SCIAC), who won its 25th game in 26 tries, and 12th in a row overall on Friday at Anderson Field.
OXY def. CLU 4-1
After three straight scoreless frames to start the game, the Tigers broke through in the bottom of the fourth on a Jamie Cooper homerun to take a 2-0 lead.
The Kingsmen answered in the sixth inning with a run of their own, capitalizing on two of the five Occidental errors in the game. Jimmy Jauregui reached base and advanced to second on an overthrow by the first basemen to start the inning and Weston Clark followed with a walk. After another infield error, Jauregui made his way to the plate to make the score 2-1, and cut the Tigers lead in half.
Just as CLU crept back into the game, Occidental brought two runs across on three hits in the seventh to extend its lead to 4-1.
Meanwhile on the mound, Scott Ericksen (7-0) held the Kingsmen to a season-low three hits while striking out five in a complete game effort.
Trey Saito (7-3) was handed the loss after going 6.2 innings, allowing just three earned runs and six hits while walking five.
At the plate, Jauregui, Davey Casciola and Max Price tallied hits for the Kingsmen.
Notables: Two games separate the Kingsmen and Tigers in the SCIAC standings with a pair to play tomorrow, followed by Round Robin competition. CLU has won the SCIAC title three consecutive seasons.
Up Next: Cal Lutheran (23-10, 17-5 SCIAC) will wrap up the series with Occidental at Ullman Stadium tomorrow, Apr. 23, with a doubleheader beginning at 11:00 a.m.
Box Score: OXY 4, CLU 1
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