THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – A battle between the top two Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) squads each vying for first place took place this weekend and the series went to Whittier with the Purple & Gold splitting Saturday and taking the series.
This marks the first time Cal Lutheran has dropped a series to Whittier College since they became a Division III program back in 1992. The first game needed extras with the poets edging the Kingsmen 7-5 in 10 Innings before CLU came back from trailing 6-2 in the 7th Inning to salvage the series winning 14-6.
Whittier remains in sole possession of first place in the SCIAC Standings at 20-11, 16-5 SCIAC, while Cal Lutheran drops into second place at 23-8, 15-6 SCIAC.
Game 1 (W, 7-5 – 10 Innings)
Whittier continued where they left off on Friday after taking game one of the three game series. They plated five runs in the fourth all coming on two outs. After back to back walks to Cody Martinez and Willie Renard, Armando Valdez walked to bring in Ben Cerami who had reached prior on a single.
Martinez then came in on a wild pitch moving up the runners and Graham Pimmand Corey Jensen capped off the scoring with two singles that put the Poets in front.
CLU would get after Poet starter Curtis Martin adding four in the fifth to cut the deficit to one but would eventually tie the game up in the bottom of the ninth with a solo shot from Nicho DellaValle that forced extras.
The Poets would connect on two long balls in the Top half of the 10th from Barzilli and Martinez that put the Purple & Gold in front 7-5.
Cerami then would buckle down in the bottom half collecting the win, his third of the season with two strikeouts.
Jensen finished the day 3-5 with an RBI, while Pimm was 2-4 with a run scored and a run batted in.
Game 2 (L, 14-6)
Leading 6-2 in the 7th Inning, Cal Lutheran stormed back in the bottom half to add 12 runs en route to the 14-6 win.
Whittier added two in the third following a Zavala double to center that scored Barzilli and Jensen. Cal Lutheran would work back into contention with a run in the fourth and fifth to tie things up, but Whittier responded with a two out rally in the seventh bringing across four runs on six hits, which included two costly Cal Lutheran errors.
Mike San Angelo led things off with a single but was taken off the base paths after a 463 double play from Jensen. Pimm singled to center to start the rally and was followed by three singles from Barzilli, Cerami, and Martinez and a triple from Zavala that opened the game up.
But in the bottom half of the inning the wheels came off for the Poet bullpen getting hit hard for 13 runs on 14 hits, which included a big three run shot from Ramsey Abushashia. Starter Justin Cheatham got the start and went 3.2 innings giving up a run on five hits. He was relieved by Thomas Hemington who ran into a stretch of left handed batters but he only survived 2.2 innings giving up five runs on five hits.
He then gave up the pitching duties to Mitchell Peterson and Matt Webster but they still were unable to quiet the Kingsmen bats until John Parviainen threw a scoreless eighth.
Barzilli finished 2-3 with two runs scored and two walks. Martinez was 2-4, while Zavala was 2-5 with a run scored and three runs batted in.
Whittier takes on Cal Lutheran this Wednesday, April 16 at home in a non-conference match-up with both teams filling their 40 game season. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00pm.