THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The Cal Lutheran Kingsmen put up a fight against the No. 3 Kean Cougars, but ultimately fell 4-3 after too many missed opportunities during a Wednesday matinee on George "Sparky" Anderson Field at Ullman Stadium.
Box Score: KEAN 4, CLU 3 - F
Kean broke a scoreless game in the top of the fourth with a run before CLU came back with three in the bottom of the inning to take a lead. Nine Kingsmen came to the plate and six reached base with four hits and two hit batters. Nick Boggan, Nick DeLorenzo and Kevin Leonard each singled and scored. Garrett Smith lifted a sac fly in the frame as well.
The Cougars cut the CLU advantage to one in the fifth with a run on a pair of singles and a sac fly off the bat of Vincent Galya. Kean then went ahead in the top of the sixth with a pair of runs on a single and a double with some help from a shaky CLU bullpen.
Cal Lutheran threatened in the bottom of the sixth, despite leaving a man on third. They also made some noise in the ninth with a one-out walk by Iggy Wagner who followed with his second stolen base of the game. CLU batters left nine men on base today, six of whom were in scoring position.
Defensively, the Kingsmen had a good showing, despite a pair of errors. Smith fired a strike to the plate where Mike Vineyard tagged out Eddie Jennings for the second out of the inning after the ball initially ricocheted off starting pitcher John LaMoure's glove.
Vineyard and Trevor Koons connected to throw out two would-be-base stealers and Kevin Eto caught a third man running in the seventh. Koons was part of one double play in the game as well. Third baseman Nicho DellaValle completed a 5-3 double-play in the sixth.
LaMoure went 3.2 innings for CLU, allowing just one run on five hits while walking none. Aaron Roth was tagged with the loss after surrendering three runs on four hits. Scott Peters, Brian Kernochan, Chris Park and Matthew Burden also took the hill in the game.
CLU collected just seven hits, and Dominick Solley had the only extra base hit with a double in the third.
Kean starting pitcher Michael Russo lasted just 3.2 innings and Daniel Hansen came on in relief, earning the win.
Cal Lutheran (13-8) returns to SCIAC play on Friday, March 23 when they travel to Occidental for a single game beginning at 3 p.m.