Kingsmen Take Series from Blues; Parks Homers Three Times, Heverly Third Walk-Off In Four Games

Kingsmen Take Series from Blues; Parks Homers Three Times, Heverly Third Walk-Off In Four Games

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.Jalen Parks homered three times on Saturday as California Lutheran University baseball took the series from the Whitman Blues.

The Kingsmen won game one 6-5 in 11 innings, and the Blues evened with an 11-3 win in the second. Cal Lutheran won the series with a 16-10 score in game three. The Purple and Gold improved to 12-2 while the Blues dropped to 3-11.

Game one was called due to darkness after the score was tied 5-5 after 10 innings. The Kingsmen forced the extra innings just in time as Austin Carrillo singled in the bottom of the ninth bringing in a run to make the deficit just 5-4. A few batters later, Zach Bullard tied the game with a single to right center.

The Kingsmen finished it off early Saturday morning in the 11 th. With Carrillo on second, Max Hervely drilled a ball to left field, the Blue outfielder made an error and Carrillo came around to score. Heverly recorded his third walk-off hit in four games.

Whitman took game two and the series came down to the third game.

The game started with a quick 2-0 lead for the Blues. The Kingsmen got going in the bottom of the fourth when Parks opened it up with a homerun into right field. Nick Fusari and Ben Wangrin both crossed the plate to go ahead 5-3. Will Watson came up to the plate and hit a triple down the right field line. Following Watson was another homerun from Heverly.

The Kingsmen had a 6-run streak in the bottom of the fourth to set themselves up 9-3 going into the fifth.

The blues fought back and were down just 10-12 to the Purple and Gold. The bottom of the eighth hammered the nail for the Kingsmen as they scored another five runs. Kyle Reuser was on base for the Kingsmen when Ethan Doshi hit him in with a single. Heverly tabbed another RBI with a single down the left field line.

Sean Blandino stepped in as a pinch hitter and recorded a double down the right field line. The Kingsmen wrapped up the scoring with a single up the middle from Brendan Durfee that sent both Blandino and Heverly across home plate.

The Kingsmen host Pacific Lutheran on Thursday at 2:30 pm.



Box Score: CLU 6, WC 5; CLU 3, WC 11; CLU 16, WC 10
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director; Cate Boller, Assistant Sports Information Director