THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — California Lutheran University baseball capped off a four-game homestand, and a three-game series sweep, with a 3-1 win over the Whitworth Pirates on Sunday afternoon.

The Kingsmen start the year 4-0 as the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) team went unblemished against Northwest Conference (NWC) opponents over the three days.

Chris Torres started the game on the mound and had a perfect game through four innings. The Pirates got to him in the fifth and he was ousted with bases loaded. He was effective in his 4.2 innings with seven strikeouts, one hit and one earned run.

Nathan Chapman came on and finished off the inning, getting the Kingsmen out of the jam, and snagged the win. In 1.1 innings, he gave up just one hit.

Zach Creighton, Will Watson and Matt Campo pitched the seventh-through-ninth. The trio each struck out two batters and shut down the Pirates. Campo gave up just one hit in the ninth and got the save.

The Kingsmen got on the scoreboard early as Gordon Richardson homered in the bottom of the first. Whitworth tied the game in the top of the fifth, and Cal Lutheran answered like every game in the series.

Max Heverly walked in the bottom of the sixth and moved to third after errors. Zach Bullard put the Kingsmen up as a ground ball scored Heverly. The Kingsmen scored one more run the very next inning. Brendan Durfee doubled to start the sixth. Josh Quinn pinch ran for Durfee and Austin Carrillo drove Quinn home with a single through the right side.

It was all the offense the Kingsmen needed, as the pitching handled the rest, and Cal Lutheran moved to 4-0.

The Kingsmen hit the road for the next four games. Cal Lutheran is in Georgia for three games as take on Piedmont on Thursday at 12 p.m. PST.

Box Score: CLU 3, WHU 1
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director