Cal Lutheran Victimized With No One at Home, 5-4

Eddie Lample wished he had stayed home instead of taking that walk. Look what happened while he was away.

“That’s a pretty foolish way to lose a ballgame,” said Lample, catcher for the Cal Lutheran baseball team.

Bizarre is another adjective to describe the ending of Cal Lutheran’s 5-4 nonconference loss Tuesday to host Cal State Long Beach.

With two out in the bottom of the ninth and the score tied, 4-4, Long Beach’s Michael Case advanced from first to third on a single by Brian Whatley. Seconds after completing his headfirst slide, Case noticed that home plate was unguarded.

Lample, believing that time had been called, strolled to the mound to talk to pitcher Steve Dempsey (10-1).

Time had not been called.

While spectators scratched their heads in amazement, Case trotted home untouched with the winning run.

“No one was even looking at me,” Case said. “I walked and I walked and I walked some more. Finally, I said, ‘I’m taking off.’ ”

Lample offered an embarrassed smile.

“What are you going to do?” he said. “Usually I call time or somebody else calls time. The umpire sometimes calls time. But nobody called time. We were all caught off guard.”

Said Cal Lutheran Coach Rich Hill: “I’ve never seen a play like that happen and I hope I never see a play like that happen again.”

The play capped a two-run ninth-inning rally for Long Beach (28-17-1), which spotted Cal Lutheran (33-3) a 3-0 first-inning lead and never led until the finish. Long Beach is ranked 16th in Division I; Cal Lutheran is the top-ranked team in Division III.

With two out in the ninth and pinch-runner Tim Falsken at third, Case singled to the hole at shortstop to drive in the tying run. Whatley followed with a sharp single to right field.

“I kind of feel sorry for Cal Lutheran,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said. “That’s a tough way to lose.”

Eric Johnson’s two-run triple in the first inning, followed by Jay Lucas’ run-scoring single gave Kingsmen starter Mike Winslow a three-run cushion.

Long Beach struck for single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to cut the gap to 3-2.

Cal Lutheran increased its lead to 4-2 in the seventh on a run-scoring single by Dan Smith.

Long Beach added a run in the eighth, chasing Winslow and bringing on the first of three relievers.