Kingsmen Crown Whitman Bullpen in 14-6 Baseball Victory

News Release Date:
Saturday, February 18

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Whitman College pushed across six runs in the third and fourth innings to forge a 6-6 tie, but Cal Lutheran's big bats pounded the Missionary bullpen for eight runs over the final five frames to notch a 14-6 baseball victory Saturday at the Arizona Desert Classic in the Phoenix, Ariz., area.

The Kingsmen, improving to 6-2 on the season, used two walks, two stolen bases and a fielder's choice to take a 1-0 lead in the first.

Cam Young

After a two-out home run in the second made it 2-0, Cal Lutheran added four runs on five hits in its third trip to the plate. A three-run triple was the big blow in that frame.

Whitman sliced its deficit in half with a three-run bottom of the third.

The first run scored on an error after the Missionaries loaded the bases on a singles by sophomores Kyle Buckham and Cam Young and a hit-batsman (junior Chris Andrews). Sophomore Chris Konolige followed with an RBI-single to center and a third run came home when freshman Peter Valentine fouled out down the first-base line.

Kyle Buckham

In the Whitman fourth, Buckham again singled and Andrews reached on an error. With two outs, sophomore Aaron Cohen drove a two-run triple into the left-center field gap. Sophomore Jimmy Madden then doubled to right-center to make a 6-6 ballgame.

Cal Lutheran regained the lead with a pair of two-out runs in the fifth inning and then tacked on another run in the sixth.

Jimmy Madden

Whitman threatened in the bottom of the sixth when Andrews and Young rapped one-out singles, but two ground-outs left both runners stranded.

The Kingsmen started to pull away in the seventh with a two-run homer down the right-field line.

Young paced Whitman's 11-hit attack with three hits, including a double, in five at-bats. Buckham and Madden had two hits apiece.

On the other side of the diamond, Cal Lutheran sprayed 17 hits around the ballpark against four Whitman pitchers.

Whitman,now 0-7 on the season finishes its Arizona road swing on Sunday morning, playing Sul Ross State at 10 a.m.

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CONTACT: Dave Holden
Sports Information Director
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash.
509 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu