Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College baseball team ran their losing skid to eight games Saturday afternoon as they wrapped up their three game series with No. 7 Cal Lutheran University falling 25-5 and 10-1.
Whittier who continues to struggle at the plate plated five runs in game one after combining for seven runs in their past six games but again had their bats silenced by the CLU pitching staff in game two bringing across just one.
The Poets were held scoreless over the first five innings in game one but managed to rally to bring across five over the 6th and 7th innings.
The Purple & Gold brought around one in the sixth after Alex Mitchell scored on a wild pitch after he had reached on a single to second base and then stole second.
In the seventh WC again rallied collecting five singles from Jonathan Whipple, Donny Young, Max Bradshaw, Julian Barzilli, and Bryson Kihara while Cody Reilly doubled to left center that brought around two. But this rally would not be enough as the Kingsmen held onto a 21-5 lead after seven innings of play that put a stoppage to the game.
Ben Cerami was tagged with the loss, his sixth of the season, while Mitchell finished 2-2 with a run scored.
In the second game, Whittier struck first in the bottom half of the first when Barzilli singled to left that brought around Mitchell. But this would be the lone Poet run scored as Scott Peters would hold the Poets to just four hits over the next six innings of work picking up his sixth win of the season.
Nick Garcia kept CLU off the scoreboard over the first two innings but was hit with three runs over the 3rd and 4th that gave the Kingsmen their first lead and a lead they would not relinquish as they would go on to tack on seven more over the 6th and 7th propelling them to the doubleheader sweep.
Whittier looks to snap their losing streak as they prepare for their final three game series with Chapman University next weekend. On Friday, April 19 the Poets will be on the road before returning home to Memorial Field on April 20 to host the Panthers for a doubleheader with game times set for 11:00am and 2:30pm.
