Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Whittier College Poets move their losing skid to six games Friday afternoon as they opened up a three game series with Cal Lutheran with an 8-2 loss at Ullman Stadium.
Cal Lutheran jumped out in front early 2-0 after the first inning with back to back to back hits and then brought around another two in the 2nd after eight batters stepped into the box. But the Poets stopped the run plating one in the 3rd getting two straight singles from Christian Loera and Josh Genzuk before Jonathan Whipple knocked one in grounding out to second base.
CLU got the run back, which they surrendered but the purple & Gold managed to cut the deficit to two in the top of the fifth. A sacrifice fly from Genzuk scored Max Bradshaw who led off with a double to the right centerfield gap. A groundball to Koons deep in the hole at shortstop ended the inning on another defensive gem.
The Kingsmen extended their lead to three thanks to a leadoff double from Kevin Leonard and then put the game out of reach in the eighth when they brought around three that pushed the score to 8-2, which was good enough to secure the opening victory.
Sophomore Thomas Hemington who usually starts game two in the series got the nod this afternoon and went 7.0 innings giving up seven runs on 13 hits picking up his fourth loss on the season.
Five different Poets recorded a hit on the afternoon.
Cal Lutheran (23-6-1, 16-3 SCIAC) and Whittier (11-19, 8-11) will conclude their three-game series tomorrow at Memorial Field. First pitch is set for 11:00 a.m.
