CLU Washes Out in Claremont-Muddslide, 17-4

A steady drizzle peppered the Moorpark College baseball field Thursday morning but the clouds had nothing to do with the downpour that followed in the afternoon.

Three Cal Lutheran pitchers were showered with 20 hits as the host Kingsmen fell to Claremont-Mudd, 17-4, in the first game of the best-of-five NCAA Division III West Regional that continues with a doubleheader at noon today. Two more games, if necessary, will be played Saturday.

“Nothing much you can say, maybe ‘Ouch!’ ” said Marty Slimak, Cal Lutheran coach. “We are going to have to find a way to stop their hitting or it’s going to be a short series.”

It was the second-worst defeat for the Kingsmen (27-11-1) this season, who had given up 10 or more runs in a game only four times. Their biggest trouncing was a 20-0 loss to USC on March 21.

Claremont (28-13), which finished second to Cal Lutheran in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, went into the game with a .328 team batting average and seven players in the starting lineup batting .300 or better.

Third baseman Mark Murray, who batted .355 in the regular season, hit four doubles in five at-bats and drove in six runs. The four doubles set a Division III playoff single-game record.

Teammate Mike Cook had four hits, including a home run, and three runs batted in.

“They must have been seeing watermelons out there,” Slimak said.

Whatever it was, they definitely had no problem smacking it. The Stags, ranked ninth in Division III, were retired in order only once.

Cook’s home run, a two-run shot against left-hander Richard Bell (8-3), capped a four-run first inning. Bell was gone by the third after allowing six runs, all earned.

His replacement, David Jaglowski, was pounded for eight hits and seven runs over the next 2 1/3 innings and left with the Kingsmen trailing, 13-2.

Chad Bourgeois pitched the final 4 2/3 innings, giving up four runs on seven hits.

Claremont’s ace, right-hander Brian Zinda (11-1), scattered five hits in five innings and allowed single runs in the second and fifth.

Catcher Rik Work was three for four with a double for second-ranked Cal Lutheran, which had not played since May 1.

“This may be a good thing,” Work said. “We learned a few things and maybe it’ll make us smarter [today].”