Kingsmen Surge to No. 5 on ABCA Poll

Kingsmen Surge to No. 5 on ABCA Poll

TUCSON, Ariz.  — High five for the No. 5 team in the nation! Cal Lutheran baseball was named No. 5 in the NCAA Division III by the American Baseball Coaches Association, Tuesday morning. After defeating Puget Sound and sweeping all three games against Pomona-Pitzer, the Kingsmen move up five spots from last week's poll (No. 10). 

Cal Lutheran opened the week with a 16-11 victory over the Puget Sound Loggers on Monday, notching 20 hits, three doubles, two triples and two homers in the slugfest. Sophomore Tanner Wright, junior Ryan Probst and junior Daniel Stauffer all collected three or more hits in the contest, including a five-RBI afternoon from Stauffer. 

The team went on to sweep the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens over the weekend to move into first in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Wright was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate in game one's 7-1 victory, while senior Justin Fong went six innings of one-run ball for his fourth win of the season. 

The Kingsmen went on to clinch their third straight series victory in game two on Saturday morning with a 12-4 win behind three-RBI outings from senior Weston Clark and Stauffer. And though game three proved trickier with an early 6-1 deficit, junior Troy Frazier picked the team up with his best appearance of the year – six shutout innings of work with eight punchouts – and sophomore Daniel Parr and Probst knocked their first long balls of the year for the 9-7 comeback win. 

Ahead of the Kingsmen, in order from No.1-4, Cal Lutheran follows Concordia-Chicago (11-1), Christopher Newport-Virginia (17-2), Trinity-Texas (17-5) and Swarthmore-Pennsylvania (11-3). Chapman is the only other SCIAC program in the top-30 at No. 9, while Occidental received votes.

 

ABCA Release: March 26, 2019
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Release by Christy Effendie, Assistant Sports Information Director