THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – With the bases loaded and two men out in the bottom of the ninth Nick DeLorenzo drew a walk off walk to give Cal Lutheran a 6-5 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps today at George "Sparky" Anderson Field.
Box Score: CLU 6, CMS 5 – F
Cal Lutheran was one out from sending the game into extra innings when Dominick Solley was hit by a pitch to give Cal Lutheran the spark they needed. Trevor Koons' hot bat continued with a double to put men on second and third. The Stags opted to intentionally walk Nick Boggan, loading the bases for Nick DeLorenzo. The designated hitter quickly got ahead 3-0 and ultimately drew a 3-1 walk to send the CLU bench into a frenzy. Koons and DeLorenzo talk about the game.
With the exception of one miscue, the defense was solid for CLU today. The middle infielders accounted for 13 touches. On his big day, offensively and defensively, Koons was part of two double plays and finished with three assists and three putouts while his counterpart Smith finished with four putouts and three assists at second.
Cal Lutheran struck first and led for four innings before having to play catch up.
In the first Koons ripped a two-out double to left center and came in to score when Nick Boggan went with a pitch for a single to left.
CMS loaded the bases in the third, and with a full count the runners were in motion, only to be halted by John LaMoure's sixth strike out of the game.
Koons came up in the third with Garrett Smith on second after singling and Solley on first after walking. The shortstop laced a triple off the right field wall, sending both runners in to score, pushing the CLU lead to 3-0 after three.
CMS cut the CLU lead to a single run with a two-run fourth. A leadoff homerun off the bat of first baseman Brett Watanabe to dead center was the first and the Stags tacked on another. The inning ended with an interesting 3-4-1 out at first base.
In the top of the fifth, another long ball hurt the Kingsmen as Michael Erb launched a two-run homerun to left, giving CMS a 4-3 lead.
LaMoure, who finished with eight strike outs, handed the ball to Chris Park after 5.0. Two quick outs in the sixth were followed by a single, just out of the reach of a diving Koons at short, a hit batter and a walk, bringing Watanabe back up to the plate. Park forced a ground ball to a diving Koons, who this time was in range, and tossed the ball up to Smith at second for the final out of the frame.
To start off the bottom of the sixth Boggan doubled for his second hit of the day. DeLorenzo singled to right, scoring Boggan and knotting the teams up at 4-4. John Leal followed suit with a double to the gap as well, which plated DeLorenzo to put CLU back on top at 5-4.
That lead would only last an inning as CMS scored the equalizing run in the top of the eighth on an RBI double from Jason Rehhaut. Brian Kernochan came in to pitch to Rehhaut, taking over from Park who went 2.1, striking out one. Park was charged with the run.
After a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth, CLU senior Byron Minnich came out of the bullpen for the second time this spring to face the heart of the CMS lineup in the top of the ninth. A strikeout, ground ball and fly ball put the Kingsmen back at the plate with one last chance in the bottom of the ninth.
Koons finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a run while Boggan was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run. DeLorenzo had a two-RBI, one run day and Solley walked and scored twice.
Minnich earned the victory, pushing his season record to 5-3. Andor Kesselman (3-5) was tagged with the loss for CMS.
Cal Lutheran (19-11, 14-7 SCIAC) will be back on the diamond tomorrow when they travel to Pomona-Pitzer for a 1:00 p.m. showdown with the Sagehens.