Another Big Day for Baseball

WHITTIER, Calif. – There is no doubt about why the No. 7 Cal Lutheran baseball squad is the top offensive team in the country. The hot-hitting Kingsmen continued to tantalize opposing pitching, scoring 31 runs on 34 hits in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) doubleheader at Whittier today. CLU won by 21-5, in seven innings, and 10-1 margins at Memorial Field.

The team registered 80 at-bats during the combined 16.0 innings and hit at a .425 clip as a team. The Kingsmen drew 10 walks and tallied three sacrifices. In game one eight different players had multi-hit games and in the second game three had more than one base knock.

Overall today Spencer DuBois was 5-for-8 with a team-leading five runs scored. Both Jake Petersen and Nicho DellaValle went 5-for-9, crossing the plate four times apiece, with eight and five RBIs, respectively. Trevor Koons and Nick Boggan each drove in five during the double dip.

On the mound, Scott Peters (6-0)and Tyler Hebda (6-2)were victorious as the duo combined to strike out nine while allowing just one run each. Aaron Roth came in to throw three scoreless innings of game two, striking out three, to earn his eighth save of the spring.

Cal Lutheran scored early and often in game one, but it was an 11 run top of the seventh inning that ultimately shortened the game.

Boggan launched a three-run homerun in the first inning of the day to put the Violet and Gold on top with a lead they would never relinquish. Garrett Smith and Petersen earned RBIs in the second, plating Mike Vinyard and DuBois for a 5-0 advantage.

CLU doubled that lead in the fourth and fifth innings. DellaValle collected a two-RBI double and Koons connected for an RBI single up the middle in the fourth, giving Hebda all the run support that he would need. DuBois went on to drive an RBI double down the left field line, plating Kevin Leonard who led off the fifth with a double. Petersen then used an RBI single to score Vinyard who also recorded a hit in the frame.

Whittier was held off the board through five before they put up a crooked number with one run in the sixth.

CLU came back with the 11-run top of the seventh that saw 16 men step into the box. Petersen drove in three in the inning with a two-RBI single and another RBI hit. Koons and Boggan each had two-RBI hits in the frame with Koons’ going for a double.

WC would tack on four more in the bottom of the seventh, but a groundball to DellaValle at third would put the game in the books.

The series finale started slow for the Kingsmen, who gave up a first inning run to the Poets and trailed 1-0 until evening the score in the third. DellaValle drew a walk and came in to score on a Koons double to centerfield.

In the fourth, CLU would push the winning run across the board. Nick DeLorenzo led the inning off with a walk and Davey Casciola doubled him in. DuBois also doubled to set up Smith for an RBI single.

DuBois, Smith and Petersen joined forces for three consecutive hits, knocking WC starting pitcher Nick Garcia (2-5) from the hill in the sixth. CLU was able to push across five insurance runs in the seventh on five hits and a pair of walks.

Defensively, Cal Lutheran committed just one error today, which had no bearing on the outcome of the game as the runner was stranded. Boggan had 15 putouts and two assists at first base. DuBois had six putouts and three assists behind the dish and Smith was responsible for eight touches with five putouts and three assists at second base.

The wins today improve the CLU win-streak is at 11 games.  

Cal Lutheran (25-6-1, 18-3 SCIAC) will round out the regular season series schedule next weekend against La Verne (19-11, 13-8). Friday, April 19 the Kingsmen will travel to Mt. Sac to play their first and hopefully not last night game of the season. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m.

Box Score: CLU 21, WC 5 (7)
Box Score: CLU 10 WC 1
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