LOS ANGELES, Calif. - In a matchup between two of the top teams in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) on Friday afternoon, the No. 20 Cal Lutheran baseball team fell to No. 21 Occidental, 12-6, in the series opener at Anderson Field.
OXY def. CLU 12-6
The Kingsmen jumped out to a quick lead after a four run first inning, highlighted by a three-run homerun off the bat of Weston Clark.
The Tigers, though, answered back in a hurry with a two-run home run of their own in the bottom of the first and capitalized on a CLU error to rattle off seven runs in the frame. With a 7-4 lead, Occidental tacked on two more in the second inning with another two-run homerun to take a big 9-4 lead early.
The Violet and Gold pieced together another run on a Clark sacrifice fly in the third and a Sinjin Todd sacrifice fly in the seventh but the Tigers responded at every turn and held on for the win. While CLU was pursuing a comeback, the game was called for darkness in the eighth inning.
Clark led the Kingsmen at the plate going 2-for-2 with four RBIs and a walk while Alec Iniguez, Gabe Gunter, Jimmy Jauregui and Cheynne Giles also added hits for CLU.
The Tigers were led by a 4-for-5 performance from Bryan Smith while Devon DeRaad and Reid Gibbs added two hits apiece.
Cal Lutheran (3-4, 1-3 SCIAC) will have its chance for redemption right away when it takes on Occidental at Ullman Stadium tomorrow, Feb. 25 for a doubleheader beginning at 11:00 a.m.
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