THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Cal Lutheran baseball split the first two games of its series against the Middlebury Panthers. The Kingsmen lost the first game of the day 5-4 but rebounded in a blowout 16-6 win.
Cal Lutheran 4, Middlebury 5
The opening game of the series featured a back-and-forth seesaw battle. Middlebury jumped on the board first with a run in the top of the first inning.
Alec Garcia responded for Cal Lutheran and knocked in
Wyatt Crosby with an RBI double. The Panthers regained the lead in the fifth, but the Kingsmen responded quickly in the bottom half of the inning when
Lucas Danielewicz scored on a wild pitch to tie the game 2-2.
Cal Lutheran had another answer when Middlebury regained the lead in the seventh inning, 5-2.
Sebastian Smith cut the lead to two with a sacrifice fly bringing Garcia home to reduce the score to 5-4. The Kingsmen had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth with two outs but were unable to convert.
Garcia had two hits and an RBI in addition to Smith's RBI. Starting pitcher
Luke Wechsler had another solid outing on the mound, going six innings and racking up eight punch-outs.
Cal Lutheran 16, Middlebury 6
After a hard-fought first game, the Kingsmen returned to their dominant ways with a ten-run route in the afternoon game. Cal Lutheran batters were hit a whopping ten times by Middlebury pitchers.
In the all-around team victory,
Leo Bristow started for the Kingsmen, carving up the Panther hitters with nine strikeouts over five and two-thirds innings. Caleb Willson pitched two innings out of the bullpen and did not allow a single hit or run.
Zach Gardner had two timely doubles and five RBIs.
Josh Quinn and
Carlos Vega had two hits each, while Vega and Danielewicz had two RBIs apiece.
Middlebury obtained another early 1-0 advantage in the top of the first, but from there the game was all Purple & Gold. Gardner opened the floodgates with a two-RBI double down the left-field line and was later able to score with an RBI double from Vega. Vega touched home due to an error from the Panthers to take a 4-1 lead.
Gardner added to the lead with another two-run double. Middlebury fought back in the sixth and made it a 6-5 ball game. The Kingsmen gave the Panthers no hope as they poured on ten runs in the bottom of the sixth to cap off the offensive explosion. The inning was spotlighted by disciplined at-bats by the Cal Lutheran offense as they drew eight hit batters/walks and tallied three RBI singles.
The Kingsmen move to 12-4 on the season and will take on Middlebury in the series finale at home tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.
