Kingsmen Give Away Opener, 8-6

When the big plate of excuses came around, Cal Lutheran baseball Coach Marty Slimak passed.

The Kingsmen’s defensive lapses and shoddy play in Thursday’s season-opening, 8-6, nonconference loss at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo could have been chalked up to a few things.

A Division I opponent for the Division III Kingsmen?

Not much outdoor practice because of the recent rains?

The first game with a lineup that included just two returning starters?

“There is no excuse for the way we played,” Slimak said. “We didn’t play well. We made four physical errors, and I’m not going to get mad about those because that’s part of the game, but it’s the mental mistakes. You absolutely can’t make mental mistakes.”

The game was more or less decided in the bottom of the fourth inning, when the Kingsmen made two critical errors, gave up five runs and fell behind, 7-2.

The most costly error was a bad throw to the plate by sophomore shortstop Richard Hernandez on a two-out infield hit. A good throw would have nailed the Mustangs’ Andy Hall, who was trying to score from second, but the throw was high. After Hall scored, Jason Vance tripled home another run.

Although Cal Lutheran’s four errors resulted in only two unearned runs, those turned out to be the difference.

“We pretty much gave them the game with our errors,” Cal Lutheran first baseman John Becker said.

Cal Lutheran junior right-hander David Jaglowski (0-1) was pulled two out into the pivotal fourth, just after Hernandez’s error. Jaglowski gave up seven runs and eight hits.

Two pitchers new to the program--freshman Matt Hernandez and junior college transfer Jesus Melgoza--held San Luis Obispo to one run. Melgoza pitched three scoreless innings, getting out of a bases-loaded jam with a double play in the eighth inning.

Becker, Jeff Marks and Chad Miyata each had two hits for the Kingsmen, who had 10.

Marks was at the plate with two out and a runner at first in the top of the ninth with Cal Lutheran behind by two runs and threatening to spoil San Luis Obispo’s debut as a Division I team. But Marks flew out to center field.

“The only positive thing we did was we came back,” Slimak said.