Photo: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. (Mar. 26, 2022) – Freshman Maximus Berber (Riverside, Calif. / Ramona) is a two-way hero.

The Poets' standout freshman threw – and batted the Whittier College baseball team to a victory over 17th-ranked California Lutheran University on Saturday afternoon, earning the Poets their second SCIAC win of the season. Berber ended the game with a vicious walk-off home run, in a two-out situation, no less. The freshman found his pitch from the Kingsmen's fourth pitcher of the day, with the ball coming in a tad high over the right side of the plate. He wound up timing the swing perfectly as the ball sailed over the fence in right-center field, bringing the Whittier fans, players and coaches to their feet in an incredible Saturday afternoon scene.

The home run gives Berber four on the year, and represents the first walk-off home run of his NCAA career as well as the first walk-off home run the Poets have had since another Max – Bradshaw '16 – hit one back in 2016 to put Whittier on top of the University of La Verne.

The freshman got the start in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader after getting the starting nod for the Poets' other win of the week over Carleton College on Tuesday afternoon. This time, however, Berber managed to settle into a groove quicker than he did on Tuesday and ended by going four and two-third innings before a hard-hit ball off the leg would cut his day short. He ended up striking out a pair of Kingsmen while exhibiting good command of the strike zone that gave his team a fighting chance offensively. Once the Cal Lutheran starting pitcher loaded the bases with three walks over the first four batters of the the bottom fourth, the Poets were determined to make the most of the opportunity and keep themselves in the game. An at-bat from senior outfielder River Danner (Seal Beach, Calif. / Los Alamitos) triggered the inning's first pair of runs, as the Poets were able to score Berber, along with sophomore catcher Ian Watanabe (Lodi, Calif. / Lodi) after a throwing error by the Kingsmen's third baseman. Following the pitching change, senior outfielder James Stirton (Cerritos, Calif. / Valley Christian) doubled into left field to score classmate Jared Vuz (Blairstown, N.J. / North Warren Regional), and a sacrifice fly from freshman middle infielder Nate Sherman (Ventura, Calif. / Buena) completed a four-run inning that allowed the Poets to take their first lead since the first inning of Friday's game in Thousand Oaks.

The visitors would come up big in the ensuing inning following Berber's minor injury as well as the inning after that, but sophomore pitcher Zach Kennedy (Blairstown, N.J. / North Warren Regional) would soon find a groove and keep Cal Lutheran off the scoreboard over the final three innings. Kennedy would galvanize his teammates by surrendering just three hits over 4.1 innings of work without issuing a single walk. The Whittier bats responded to the quality pitching by tying the game in the eighth before Berber walked off in the ninth, which gave the Poets their second walk-off win of the week. Before that could happen, however, the Poets would need to close the distance with the Kingsmen. Luckily, a triple from Watanabe to open up the eighth, followed by a base knock from Vuz on the ensuing at-bat would lead to Whittier tying the game, setting the freshman up for his big moment. Berber would finish the day with three hits over seven at-bats between the two games, and his four home runs on the season currently leads the team. 

Head Coach Mike Rizzo and the Poets will have some time to celebrate the big win before hosting Pacific University for four games between Saturday and Sunday of this coming weekend. 

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