Loss Triggered by Long Inning Causes Overtime for Cal Lutheran : College baseball: Kingsmen follow 11-3 setback to Azusa Pacific that included 7-run inning with a 10 p.m. practice.

They were told not to consider it punitive, but Cal Lutheran players must have wondered how many other college baseball teams were required to spend Wednesday night practicing--inside a gymnasium--only hours after they finished a game.

The Kingsmen were.

After Azusa Pacific pounded Cal Lutheran, 11-3, in a nonconference afternoon game at CLU’s North Athletic Field, Coach Rich Hill announced a 10 p.m. practice.

“It’s not punishment,” he said, “but I do want to get in a workout while some of the mistakes we made are fresh in our minds.”

The Kingsmen could have used an all-nighter simply on their performance in the seventh inning. Azusa turned a 4-2 game into a rout by sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring seven times.

To put the Cougars’ offense in perspective, only three teams scored seven runs in a game against Cal Lutheran all last season. None scored in double figures.

“You have to give Azusa credit,” Hill said. “They put the ball in play. (But) we did the rest.”

Indeed, Azusa (5-2) hit only two balls hard in the seventh--and one of those was an out.

Pedro Carranza led off the inning by hitting a two-hop chopper down the third-base line past Lupe Carrillo. David Richards walked, but Kingsmen right-hander Louis Birdt induced David Wells to foul out trying to bunt.

Birdt, the fourth of six Cal Lutheran pitchers, might have extricated himself from the jam entirely had he made the correct fielding decision on the next batter, Caleb Roope, who chopped the ball back toward the mound.

But as Birdt fielded the ball and prepared to throw to third for a force play, a voice from the Kingsmen dugout barked “Second!” Birdt, following orders, turned around and threw to second--too late.

The voice was Hill’s. “I had a horrible game as coach, too,” he said. “I was the one calling for second. I got greedy.”

Steve Lind followed with an infield single to drive home the first run of the inning. Michael Jordan, the next batter, sparked an extended rally with a two-run double down the left-field line.

Tony Darden (1-1), the second of three Azusa pitchers, picked up the win by blanking Cal Lutheran in the fifth and six innings in relief of starter Dal Jones.

John Brookman, a senior from Westlake High, allowed one unearned run over the final three innings to pick up his first save. Brookman allowed three hits, but retired the last seven batters.