CLU Rebounds From 1st Loss to Win Championship

As Cal Lutheran baseball Coach Rich Hill watched his team breeze to victories in its first 21 games, one thought remained in the back of his mind: What will happen when we lose?

“We have that immortal feeling,” he said after a recent win, “and that’s not very good.”

So he was left to wonder. Would the streak’s inevitable end leave the Kingsmen in a funk, or would they bounce back?

Hill got an emphatic answer. After Cal Lutheran lost to UC San Diego, 5-3, Saturday in a third-round game of the Tritons’ Sunshine Classic, the Kingsmen rebounded strongly to whip San Diego, 9-4, in the championship game.

Brent Hansen (4-0) handcuffed the Kingsmen in the first game, striking out 14. CLU rallied in its final at-bat, turning three doubles into two runs. But with the go-ahead run at the plate, Hansen struck out Rawley Jacobson to end the game.

In the final, two-run home runs by Eric Johnson and Dan Smith sparked a six-run third inning for the Kingsmen and started CLU to an easy win.

Johnson, the tournament’s most valuable player, was eight for 16 with four doubles, a home run and five runs batted in in four games.

Mike Teron (2-0), who came on in relief of starter Tim Wimbish in the fifth inning, pitched into the ninth to earn the win. Louis Birdt got the final out after the Tritons had scored two runs in the ninth.

Cal Lutheran (22-1) is ranked second in the nation among NCAA Division III schools. San Diego (14-3-1) is ranked sixth.