COLLEGE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Cal Lutheran Strikes Back With Big Seventh Inning

Gilbert Benitez’s base hit to left field drove in teammate Adam Rauch for the winning run in Cal Lutheran’s 6-5 nonconference victory over Chapman Thursday at Cal Lutheran.

The Kingsmen overcame a 5-2 deficit with a four-run seventh inning, including a three-run home run by Jeff Marks that tied the game.

It was the fifth victory in six games for Cal Lutheran (6-6), which completed a sweep of the home-and-home series.

John Becker had three hits with two doubles and Kirk Fellows had two hits with a solo home run for Cal Lutheran, which lost its first five games.

Freshman Matt Hernandez struck out five in 2 2/3 innings for his first collegiate victory.

Matt McReady hit a solo home run for Chapman (4-11).

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Pierce 6, Glendale 3--Brahma pitchers Chris Leveque, John Loveless and Brandon Nickens allowed five hits and no earned runs. Starter Leveque (1-2) earned the victory. Casey Cote had three hits and two RBIs for Pierce. Mike Glendenning’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the fourth broke a 3-3 tie. The Brahmas (8-10, 4-0 in Western State Conference play) have won six games in a row. Glendale is 6-7-1, 1-2.

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Valley 4, Canyons 3--Jorge Dorado gave up five hits and struck out eight in eight innings for the Monarchs (5-9-2, 2-1-1) in a WSC South Division game at Valley.

Tony Gennaro pitched the ninth, striking out the first two batters on six pitches, to pick up his fourth save.

Brandon Mora led Valley’s offense with two hits, including a double.

Joe Stephenson (1-3) took the loss for Canyons (6-12, 2-2).

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Bakersfield 8, Mission 7--Phillip King had two hits with two RBIs for the Free Spirit in a WSC game at Bakersfield.

P.C. Para had three hits with two runs and an RBI for the Renegades (10-6-1, 1-1-1). Para threw out Bobby Kite on a fly ball to right to end the game with the tying run at the plate for the Free Spirit (4-14, 0-4).

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Oxnard 13, Santa Barbara 2--Condor starter Rick Garcia (3-1) scattered seven hits through seven innings for the victory, and Ryan Glass allowed one hit in two innings of relief. Oxnard led, 3-2, in the bottom of the fifth, when it broke the game open with seven runs.

Art Bolin (four for five) keyed the inning with a two-run single, and Jason Young added an RBI single. Matt Anderson had a two-run double in the third.

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Antelope Valley 3, Rio Hondo 3--David Glick struck out seven of eight batters he faced to preserve a Foothill Conference tie for visiting Antelope Valley (8-5-2, 3-1-1) in a game that started late and was called because of darkness.

The umpires delayed the start of the game until a replacement third base could be located.