THOUSAND OAKS, (March 4,2023)- The Poets traveled to Thousand Oaks today to take on the Cal Lutheran Kingsmen in the second part of their SCIAC series. Whittier would drop the first game by a score of 3-1.

Game 1: 

Freshman Aaron Cazares toed the rubber for the Poets as they continued their series against Cal Lu. Both teams remained quiet in the first two innings with no runs being scored. The Kingsmen were then able to make their first strike in the bottom of the third. With 2 outs in the inning Cal Lu singled in a run to take a 1-0 lead. 

Whittier was able to answer back in the top half of the fourth, as Lew Rice continued to swing the bat well and crushed one over the right-center field wall. This would be the Poets lone run of the game. 

The Kingsmen broke the 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth, when they were able to bring home 2 runs to take a 3-1 lead. This would be the final scoring of the game and it would end with this score. 

Matthew Helguera entered the game in relief for Cazares and pitched well for the Poets. He threw 2.1 scoreless innings with a strikeout. Whittier once again could not put the pieces together at the plate despite the home run from Rice and 2 hits from Nathan Sherman. 

Game 2: 

This game got out of hand for the Poets quickly after Cal Lutheran was able to tag them for 10 runs in the first inning. Maximus Berber started on the mound for the Poets and was not able to get into his groove after striking out the leadoff batter. 

Cal Lutheran continued to score in the first few innings of the game adding 1 in the bottom of the second and 2 more in the third. 

The Whittier bats remained quiet until the sixth inning of this game. Jay Schulze was able to lead the inning off with a single and after moving around the bases scored on a passed ball. But Cal Lutheran extended their lead in the bottom of the sixth, adding 4 more runs to give themselves a 17-1 lead. 

The Poets were able to add 3 more runs to their total in the bottom of the seventh with Enzo Comes singling and Schulze and Conboy walking to bring in runs, but the deficit was too big. Whittier would drop this game 17-4. 

Whittier was able to keep two of the three games in this series close, but would go 0-3 against Cal Lutheran. Next week the team will be back in action, as they will host Rochester in a 3 game series starting Tuesday at 1:00. 

Photo: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

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