LOS ANGELES — It was your classic pitcher's duel.
Oxy ace Joseph Kling put together another impressive start, giving up just three earned runs in all nine innings pitched.
But Cal Lutheran's Jake Peterson was just too good as the 2013 SCIAC Player of the Year threw a two-hit gem to beat the Occidental baseball team 4-1 at Anderson Field on Friday.
Oxy falls to 8-10 overall and 6-4 in SCIAC play. Cal Lutheran — currently ranked No. 12 in the nation — improves to 10-3 and 8-2.
Peterson, a bearded lefty whose velocity reached 89 mph on the radar gun, struck out 10 batters without walking any, leading the Kingsmen to a win in the first game of a three-game series between the teams this weekend.
Kling's record falls to 2-2, but his ERA is still 1.91. Before Friday, he'd given up just one earned run in three SCIAC starts.
With both pitchers rolling, Cal Lu had to manufacture its first run in the third inning. Davey Casciola bunted for a single, Austin Kay bunted him over to second and Justin Cana drove him home with a line-drive single to center field.
The Kingsmen struck again in the top of the sixth. With one out and the bases loaded, Kling got Ramsey Abushahla to hit a grounder to A.J. Libunao at third, but Libunao and Walker Marks just missed turning an inning-ending double play — getting just the runner at second — allowing Spencer DuBois to score.
The Tigers got one run back in the bottom half of the sixth. Marks became Oxy's first base runner when he lined a singled over Casiola's head at third to lead off the inning. Alec Strain moved Marks into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt to third and then Johnathan Brooks came through with a line drive RBI-double to left.
But that was the only offense the Tigers were able to produce against Peterson.
Cal Lu scored its third run in the seventh due to a pair of throwing errors by the Tigers and added another insurance run in the ninth.
In his fifth game starting at shortstop, Riley Smith made several impressive defensive plays. He backhanded a groundball to his right, moved well to pick a slow roller to his left and even used his 6-foot-2 frame to snag a line drive out of the air that was well above his head. With Cal Lu still threatening in the sixth, he backhanded a shot in the hole and through off his heels to get the fielder's choice at second, ending the threat and the inning.
The Tigers and Kingsmen finish the series with a doubleheader in Thousand Oaks on Saturday. First pitch of Game 1 is scheduled for 11 a.m.
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