Eagles Walk Past Cougars, 10-3
Box Score
(1/31/08 - Baseball) IRVINE - Host Concordia drew a dozen walks and used a five-run 3rd inning to pull away with a 10-3 win over Cal State San Marcos, Thursday afternoon in non-conference play.
The Eagles drew four walks en route to their biggest inning of the young season to help erase a 3-1 deficit. Mike Gonzalez reached on an error to lead off the inning, then three-straight walks were issued to Scooter Hendrickson, Dante Beltramo and Beau Poteet, respectively. The last of those plated the first run of the inning as the Eagles cut the gap to just one run.
Freshman Justin Baeza followed Poteet with a RBI-single to left field, then Cody Kissell hit the first of his two sacrifice flies on the day to plate another run. Following a walk to Gregg Davidson and a strikeout, Nathan Dean roped his third double in just two games to complete the inning and a 6-3 lead.
Senior LHP Enrique Lechuga (1-0) might not have had any deficit to claw out of, but his defense let him down with a pair of errors in the 2nd inning. Terry Moritz blooped a double around a shifted defense to lead off the inning, but then consecutive errors allowed Adam Ricciardulli and Morgan Wynne to reach base. Austin Coleman made the Eagles pay with a two-RBI single through the left side to wrap up the scoring.
Despite the deficit, Lechuga settled in and sailed through his final three innings of work. He allowed just a single hit over that span and completed his five innings allowing just one earned run on three hits while striking out five without a free pass.
The Eagles tagged two more pairs of run to their lead to ensure their first win of the season. A leadoff walk to Jimmy Mittelberger set the stage for the inning before Nick Fuentes was hit by a pitch. Poteet followed with a single, then Baeza drew another bases-loaded walk to force in the first run. Kissell made it 8-3 with another deep fly ball that allowed Fuentes to trot home.
Fuentes took care of the final two runs of the game with one out in the 7th as he blasted a 3-0 fastball to right field for his first home run of the season. Mike Gonzalez led off the inning with a bunt single to provide the base runner for Fuentes.
Junior RHP Ryan Torrey was nearly flawless in three innings of relief, allowing just one hit while striking out two after taking over for Lechuga. Sophomore Cameron Bayne made his first appearance on the mound a quick one, throwing just 10 pitches to retire the final three batters of the game.
Baeza made the most of his first collegiate start, going 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI while both Kissell and Dean added two hits apiece and drove in two runs. The Cougars used seven pitchers in the game with Johnny Holtman the only hurler to survive more than 1.2 innings. He slowed down the Eagles to an extent, allowing just the Fuentes home run over 3.2 frames. Auggie Richardson (0-1) took the loss for the Cougars (1-3).
Concordia (1-1) plays its alumni game this Saturday, February 2 with start time set for 12:00 p.m. The Eagles begin Golden State Athletic Conference play next Saturday, February 9 as they play host to Westmont in a doubleheader slated to start at 11:00 a.m.