Cal Lutheran Walks Away With 6-5 Loss to La Verne : Baseball: Kingsmen mount late rally, but fall in NCAA Division III playoff opener.

When you peel away the layers of the Cal Lutheran baseball team’s 6-5 loss to La Verne on Thursday and look for the cause, you’ll find three walks.

They could not have come at a more inopportune time.

The Kingsmen hit the ball well, played exceptional defense and even received solid pitching--with the exception of a lapse in the sixth inning, when the three consecutive two-out walks by Carlos Garibay led to a three-run inning that gave the Leopards the deciding cushion.

Fifth-ranked La Verne (33-8) withstood a three-run rally by Cal Lutheran in the eighth to take the first game of the best-of-five NCAA Division III West regionals. The 13th-ranked Kingsmen (23-13) put two runners on before cleanup hitter Jeff Marks was retired on a grounder for the last out.

“Good game, huh?” said Cal Lutheran Coach Marty Slimak, obviously ignoring the bottom of the sixth.

The Leopards led, 3-2, with two out and the bases empty when Garibay (5-2) mysteriously lost his control. He had walked one batter to that point, then loaded the bases by walking No. 9 hitter Mike Smith, Jeff Eckler and Brock Whobrey at the top of the order.

“I wasn’t tired, I just wasn’t hitting my spots,” Garibay said. “I felt like I was getting squeezed a little bit.”

Slimak then made the slow walk to the mound and brought on freshman Matt Hernandez to face Jeff Polinsky, the Leopards’ leading hitter. Polinsky ripped his fourth hit of the game, a single through right side of the infield, to drive in two runs.

It was not the same Polinsky the Kingsmen saw during the teams’ Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series in February. At that time, he was slowed by a back injury and managed one hit in the three-game series. No such luck for Cal Lutheran this week.

“He’s a pretty good hitter,” Garibay said. “Everything I threw he hit. I have to give credit to him.”

Polinsky’s single in the sixth was followed by David Madrid’s run-scoring single, pushing the lead to 6-2.

Cal Lutheran might have called it a day at that point, particularly considering the Kingsmen were facing 6-foot-5 right-hander J.D. Romero, the SCIAC player of the year.

But Romero (8-3) had his own troubles in the eighth. He issued his first walk of the game, to Chad Miyata, leading off the inning. John Becker then singled to right on a textbook hit-and-run play, sending Miyata to third.

Cal Lutheran got a break when Kirk Fellows reached first and Miyata scored on an error by Smith at second base.

The Kingsmen pulled within 6-4 when catcher Gilbert Benitez grounded into a force at second, driving in Becker.

With runners at first and third and one out, Cal Lutheran tried to catch La Verne napping. Kingsmen players on the bench screamed “squeeze,” hoping to distract La Verne catcher Peter Loaiza while Benitez attempted to steal second. But Loaiza gunned Benitez out at second and Marks held at third.

Sean Smith walked a few pitches later, giving Cal Lutheran another first-and-third situation. This time, as Smith took off from first to draw a throw and get in a rundown, Marks broke toward home. He scored when Romero intercepted the relay throw to the plate.

The inning ended, with Cal Lutheran still a run short, on Rich Holmes’ groundout.

In the ninth, Miyata and Becker each singled with two out, but Romero finished off the complete game by getting Marks to ground into a force play.

Cal Lutheran had 11 hits, three from Fellows and two from Becker.

The series continues at noon today at La Verne with the Leopards’ Greg Vargas (8-1, 3.54 earned-run average) facing Jesus Melgoza (4-2, 2.98).

The starters for Game 3, which starts about 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 2, will be La Verne’s Jeff Doen (7-2, 2.69) and Andrew Barber (2-1, 5.25).