LOS ANGELES, Calif. – With no rain in sight as the sun
shone bright without a cloud in the sky on an 80 degree day at
Anderson Field the Occidental College Tigers and Cal Lutheran
University Kingsmen picked up on a rain-halted game from Feb. 18 in
the fourth inning before playing a regularly scheduled Southern
California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game. CLU, leading
4-0, added to their lead and the Tigers could not catch up,
dropping the continuation game 5-3 before the Kingsmen completed
the season series sweep, defeating Oxy 10-2.
With the CLU order nearly intact from where it was eight weeks
ago, the Kingsmen bats started where they left off as the visiting
squad added to their lead in the fourth, pushing the score to
5-0.
Occidental, with numerous injuries since the original line-up
was set, sent Alec Strain to the hill while a
number of position players moved around in the field and in the
batting order. Oxy up a crooked number in the bottom of the fifth
after a pair of errors in the outfield allowed Anthony
Salsedo, who singled to reach, to score on a sacrifice fly
by Chris Caldwell.
The Tigers would rally with two outs in the eighth to score
another pair. Pedro Aldape led off with a double
down the left field line and Jacob Lee, who pinch
ran, came in to score when Riley Smith reached on
an error. When the ball went out of play, he wound up on third on
the play. Logan Allen then connected for an RBI
double, scoring Smith, the final run of the game for either
team.
In the field, Smith made a fantastic sliding catch on the line
in shallow left field for the second out of the top of the ninth.
Oxy would make no errors in the game.
Ross Pomerantz, who is now sidelined with an
injury, was tagged with the loss after starting back on Feb. 18.
Today, Strain tossed six full innings, scattering four hits and
allowing no runs.
For the Kingsmen, Ian Durham picked up the win, improving to 3-4
on the season. Byron Minnich came into the game with two down in
the eighth and worked the final 1.1 to record his eighth save of
2011.
CLU started game two hot scoring four times in the opening
frame. John Leal lined a two-run homerun down the right field line
before the Kingsmen scored two additional unearned runs in the
inning.
Occidental would cut the deficit in half, scoring twice in the
bottom of the first. Kevin Ozaki,
Allen and Aldape all drew walks. Ozaki came in to score on a failed
pick off attempt and after stealing third, Allen and Aldape
successfully executed a double steal with Allen crossing the plate
for the final run of the game for the Tigers.
The Kingsmen added runs in the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth
as Occidental was forced to use six pitchers. Matt
Malott (1-3) was tagged with the loss after going 4.1
innings, allowing seven runs on nine hits. David
Feasler worked 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball, forcing
four groundball outs and one fly ball. In the seventh, three men
went to the hill, each recording just one out. Jacob
Blodgett worked to the final batter of the inning, getting
the Tigers out of a bases loaded jam. Brooks
Belter tossed the final two innings, striking out
three.
Overall the Black and Orange connected for just three hits with
Allen, Mitch Margolis and
John Ugai all singling.
In the two games Ugai had 12 putouts and seven assists at second
base without an error. Stephen Hilliard had eight
catches and threw out KC Judge trying to stretch a single into a
double in the top of the seventh of game two. Allen had six assists
at shortstop.
Cal Lutheran (22-14, 16-8 SCIAC) was led by Richard
Michelin who was 3-for-5 with a run scored. Three other players had
two hits apiece and four players scored twice each. Aaron Roth
(2-1) earned the win after pitching 5.0 innings.
Occidental (11-24, 7-17) will be back on the diamond Friday,
April 22 when they host Whittier College at 3:00 p.m. on Anderson
Field.
Article by Tracy Maple, Sports Information Director
