THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - In the first game of the 2016 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Baseball Tournament, the No. 2 seeded Cal Lutheran baseball team defeated No. 3 seed Chapman in come from behind fashion in a back and forth battle at Ullman Stadium on Friday afternoon.
With clouds overhead and a light downfall when the first pitch was thrown, the Panthers jumped out to a quick lead after back-to-back hits gave them a 1-0 advantage. Starting pitcher Trey Saito proceeded to settle in and strike out the next two while catcher Eddie Villegas threw out a runner attempting to steal to end the inning.
The Kingsmen wasted no time with a response, starting off the bottom of the fourth with four straight hits to take a 2-1 lead. Davey Casciola set the tone with a single to right, followed by a base hit from Chad Clark and an RBI double by Gabe Gunter. CLU took the lead after Jimmy Jauregui continued his hot hitting with an RBI single through the left side to bring home Gunter.
The Violet and Gold tacked on another run in the bottom of the second after Nick Cohan singled to lead of the inning and came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Gunter.
The lead would hold until the Panthers broke through for three runs in the fourth and another in the fifth to take a 5-3 lead.
Needing a victory to avoid a tough journey through the loser's bracket on Saturday, the Kingsmen rallied once more in the bottom of the seventh. Justin Caña led off the frame with a single to right and moved to second after a quality at bat from Villegas to draw a walk. With two on, Cohan executed a textbook sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position. With two outs in the inning, Casciola hit a slow roller to shortstop that he beat out for an infield single, and a throwing error allowed the tying run to score.
With Saito still on the mound in the eighth, he faced just three batters after a smooth 4-6-3 double play to end the inning and give CLU momentum on offense.
Gunter led off the bottom of the eighth with his third hit of the game and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jauregui. After moving to third on a passed ball, Caña stepped up the plate and hit a clutch shot to the left center gap for a double and the eventual game-winning RBI.
Nate Wehner came in out of the bullpen and pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the save while striking out the last batter of the game.
Saito (9-3) earned the win after going eight innings and allowing just five hits and two earned runs while striking out four.
At the plate, the Kingsmen offense was clicking, connecting for 16 hits in the game with three apiece coming from the trio of Caña, Casciola and Gunter while Cohan and C. Clark each added two.
The remainder of the tournament now moves to Occidental College, where Cal Lutheran (29-11) will await the winner of Friday's postponed game between No. 1 seed Occidental and No. 4 Redlands. The game is scheduled for a tentative start time at 2:30 p.m. on Anderson Field.
Box Score: CLU 6, CU 5
SCIAC PST: Tournament Website
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