Cal Lutheran Does a Number on Master’s, 9-6

According to a Cal Lutheran baseball team motto, “Seven, eight, nine is Kingsmen time.”

The Kingsmen should add the words five and six to the slogan, however, after defeating The Master’s College, 9-6, in an NAIA District 3 game at North Field on Wednesday.

On Monday, Cal Lutheran beat defending NCAA Division II champion Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 5-4, scoring three runs, including the game winner, in the fifth inning.

Against Master’s, the Kingsmen trailed, 4-3, after 5 1/2 innings, then scored four runs in the sixth to take charge.

The victory was the fifth in a row for Cal Lutheran (11-4, 5-1 in District 3 play) and marked the seventh time this season that the Kingsmen had come from behind to win.

Leonard Matsumoto’s two-out solo home run tied the score, 4-4, and Darnell Mitchell’s three-run blast over the left-field fence gave the Kingsmen a 7-4 lead.

“He threw me a fat fastball right down the middle,” said Mitchell, a solidly built 5-foot-9, 170-pound senior. “It was exactly where I was looking for it.”

Mitchell’s home run came against relief pitcher Mike Weinstein and capped a tremendous turnaround for the Kingsmen, who scored three runs in the first off starter Rick Simpson (1-4) but were held hitless from the second through the fifth.

“He wasn’t really fooling us,” Mitchell said. “We just kept hitting the ball right at them.”

Simpson had retired 10 batters in a row before Matsumoto’s fourth home run, which came on a 3-2 pitch.

After that, however, he fell apart.

Devon Schutzler lined Simpson’s next pitch for a single, Dan Weis was hit by a pitch, and Mitchell, facing Weinstein, followed with his line-drive shot.

“(Rick) is a good pitcher,” Master’s assistant coach Chris Harrison said. “But he’s still a sophomore. When he gives up home runs, he lets it get to him instead of concentrating on getting the next batter out. That won’t happen next year with more seasoning, but it happened today.”

Tim Wimbish (3-0) picked up the win in relief for Cal Lutheran. Wimbish replaced starter Kevin O’Neill with two out in the fourth and allowed one unearned run and three hits in 4 1/3 innings.

“Tim did a great job for us,” Cal Lutheran Coach Rich Hill said. “But sooner or later, our starters are going to have to step forward and produce. We can’t keep depending on our bullpen.”

Trailing, 3-0, after the first, Master’s (7-11, 2-5) scored two runs in the second inning and one each in the fourth and fifth to take a brief lead.

Sheldon Sparks (two for five) scored on Mark MacArthur’s sacrifice fly for the Mustangs’ go-ahead run in the fifth, setting the stage for Cal Lutheran’s two-out assault in the sixth.