Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College Baseball team battled Tuesday with the Kingsmen of Cal Lutheran University in a non-conference game falling 5-4 at Memorial Field.

The game jump-started a nine game non-conference schedule with six in a row being at home.  Whittier drops to 5-14, 3-9 SCIAC.

Two runs came across in the bottom half of the 1^st that put the Purple & Gold on top thanks to Hank Burditt (Granada Hills, Calif.) who doubled to center driving in Andrew Lamar (Alta Loma, Calif.) and Tanner Marcoe (Northridge, Calif.) who reached on a hit by pitch and a single, respectively.

This lead would be short-lived though as CLU would add four runs over the 3^rd and 4^th that gave them a 4-2 advantage.  In the 6^th the poets put together a nice rally with two runs coming across on three hits thanks to Dmitri Washington (Peoria, AZ) who singled to left bringing home Nick Krska (Happy Valley, OR) and Jake Raynaud (Los Gatos, Calif.). 

This leveled the game but again CLU would come back to add the eventual game winner the very next inning coming on an error by the shortstop allowing them to come away with the one run victory.

Whittier added 11 hits for the game with Burditt going 2-3 with two runs batted in.  Lamar was 2-4 and Marcoe 2-5, while Washington would finish 2-4 with two RBI's.

Dante Mancia (La Mirada, Calif.) picked up the loss after going a strong 7.0 innings giving up just two unearned runs on nine hits as he drops to 0-2.  

Whittier returns to action tomorrow, Thursday, March 16 as they host Ithaca College for a single game beginning at 3:00pm.