LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Baseball hosted the Cal Lutheran Kingsmen in the team's return to SCIAC action after traveling to Louisiana and playing Willamette at home over spring break.
The Kingsmen got on the board early as an Oxy error extended the inning and allowed Cal Lutheran to score two runs.
The Tigers would immediately respond as Thomas Munch and Ben Rutkin got on base with singles and eventually Munch would score on a wild pitch to cut the lead in half. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Griffen Rogers led off with a single to center and Ben Fitzgerald brought him in to score with an RBI double down the left field line.
The game would remain tied as Alex Dexter was throwing a solid game on the mound for Oxy. In the 5th inning, Dexter would allow his first earned run of the game when the Kingsmen right fielder hit a solo home run to give Cal Lu a 3-2 lead.
In the top of the 6th inning, Antonio Vasquez was brought into a jam and induced fly balls to escape with only two runs allowed, allowing the Tigers to remain in the game as CLU led 5-2.
Ben Rutkin led off the top of the 7th inning by being hit by the pitch and Devin Sarkine followed with a single to right to start a rally for the Tigers. After a fielder's choice moved Rutkin to 3rd base, Rogers drove him in with a ground ball to shortstop to cut the Cal Lu lead down to two runs.
Wyatt Zadoorian was called on in relief for the 8th inning, and he pitched two hitless innings while striking out one batter to keep the deficit at 5-3 heading into the 9th inning.
In the bottom of the 9th, Rutkin again led off an inning by being hit by a pitch after putting together a quality at bat, fouling off pitch after pitch with two strikes. Sarkine followed up with a single to center field, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with no one out.
Miles Capobianco would pinch hit and lay down a bunt that had some speed behind it and the Kingsmen pitcher attempted to get the out at 3rd base, but the throw was off line and forced the 3rd basemen to try to tag Rutkin, who was called safe by the 2nd base umpire.
With the bases loaded, Griffen Rogers hit a hard ground ball to 1st base that was knocked down and fired to home for the force out, preventing any runs from scoring.
Now with one out in the inning, Ben Fitzgerald stepped up to the plate and belted a line drive at the right fielder who froze before realizing the ball was headed over his head. Once the ball was down it was off to the races for the Oxy baserunners.
Alfers, who has pinch ran earlier in the inning, scored easy from 3rd as did Capobianco from 2nd, but Rogers was rounding 3rd base as the Kingsmen through the ball in from the outfield and the play at the plate was close but Rogers slid into the catcher and home just before the tag, scoring the game-winning run at the plate and giving Oxy a 6-5 win.
The Tigers handed the Kingsmen their 1st SCIAC loss of the season, and Oxy is now 2-5 in SCIAC play. Zadoorian got his first win of the season thanks to his effective innings of relief that kept the score in reach for Oxy.
Fitzgerald was the hero of the game, going 3 for 5 at the plate while driving in four runs, three coming in the 9th inning to lift Oxy to victory with the Tigers down to their last two outs.
Oxy will head out to Thousand Oaks, CA to take on Cal Lutheran in a doubleheader tomorrow, March 22nd at 11am and 2:30pm.
