REDLANDS, Calif. - Cal Lutheran baseball defended its Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) title for the fourth straight season, 12th in program history, after defeating Redlands 6-5 toady on the road to round out the regular season.
The Kingsmen were in an early 1-0 deficit after the Bulldogs struck first, but a three-run top of the third gave the Violet and Gold an advantage. Davey Casciola hit a two-run homerun, plating Max Price who singled and later in the inning Jimmy Jauregui drove in Chad Clark as each doubled.
Redlands retaliated with a run in the bottom of the third and came back to score twice more in the bottom of the fifth. CLU evened things up in the top of the sixth when Trey Saito was hit by a pitch and Casciola singled to put runners at first and second. A throwing error allowed C. Clark to reach and Saito to score, knotting the teams at 4-4.
In the seventh, UR added a run, retaking the lead, but Cal Lutheran responded by plating two more in the top of the eighth as Saito scored again and Gabe Gunter singled up the middle with the ultimate winning RBI that scored C. Clark.
CLU was unable to add any insurance runs in the ninth. The last opportunity for the Bulldogs had potential with back-to-back walks to lead off the inning, but Nate Wehner took the ball and struck out the first batter he faced before forcing a 4-6-3 double play to end the game and send the team into celebration.
Marshall Pautsch started and earned a no decision after throwing 6.0 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits with four strike outs. Ryan Bill took over for 1.2 innings, surrendering a run on two hits with a strike out. Mitchell Shields got the final out of the eight on a strikeout and Landry Kiyabu (3-2) took over in the ninth. After struggling to find the plate, he was credited with the win while Wehner got the save, his second of the spring.
Offensively, Casciola paced the pack with a 3-for-4 day at the plate out of the leadoff spot, driving in two and scoring once. His homerun was the sixth of the season for the senior. Designated hitter Eddie Villegas was 4-for-5 and Ramsey Abushahla also had a multi-hit day with a pair. Overall, CLU collected 13 hits and both Saito and Price scored twice.
The 2016 senior class becomes the fourth group to win a conference championship each year of his career and the current class won 88 league games between 2013-16.
Cal Lutheran (28-11, 22-6 SCIAC) will share the 2016 crown with Occidental as both squads posted 22-6 records during league play. Though the teams finished with identical records, Oxy has been selected as the SCIAC Postseason Tournament host after taking two of three from the Violet and Gold during the season. Cal Lutheran will, however, play a first round home game on Friday, May 6, against Chapman at 3:00 p.m. inside of Ullman Stadium.
Box Score: CLU 6, UR 5
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