On Thursday, March 24 the California Lutheran University Kingsmen baseball team played against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Engineers. The Kingsmen had lost the game with a score of 13-11. It was a startling loss as the Kingsmen spent the first five innings with an 11-1 lead. 

“I think that’s the biggest disappointment of this whole game, when you have an 11-1 lead and you can’t shut the door, or close it, and take it the rest of the way, that’s the disappointing part of that,” Head Coach Marty Slimak said. 

The game had begun with a strong start as junior second baseman Kyle Reuser put the Kingsmen on the board in the first inning with a home run. 

“It’s always nice to score runs for the team,” Reuser said.

The Kingsmen scored three more runs in the next two innings before scoring four more runs in the third inning thanks to a grand slam hit by junior outfielder Austin Carrillo. 

“It feels good to come out big for the team, couldn’t do it without my teammates on base, and I was just lucky enough to put a good swing on the ball,” Carrillo said. 

By the end of the fifth inning, the Kingsmen had reached a total of 11 runs while the Engineers had only one run. Everyone watching the game including players, were sure that the Kingsmen would end the game victorious as the scoreboard was heavily one sided. 

“We were very confident, but it didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” Carrillo said. 

In the sixth inning the Engineers began making a comeback as they scored five runs against the Kingsmen. 

“We became a little complacent at the end, just not taking our foot off the gas,” Reuser said.

The Kingsmen weren’t able to score any more runs for the remainder of the game as the Engineers scored six more in the eighth inning and one more in the ninth inning. The Engineers made a comeback for the win, ending their scoring streak at 13. 

“Pretty disappointed at the situation, when you have an 11-1 lead, you shouldn’t be able to lose the game,” Slimak said.

The coach wasn’t the only one disappointed with the game’s end result. 

“It’s always nice to lead, but we need to do a better job of closing out the game,” Reuser said. 

Moving forward, the players said that they would focus on closing the game more. 

“We can do a lot better job at being competitive, not taking pitches off, and not being complacent,” Carrillo said. 

The way the game played out left the Kingsmen with mixed feelings. Players walked off the field with a bittersweet feeling after such a strong beginning, but a stunning loss. 

“It was fun to come out, compete, it didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but it’s always fun to be out here,” Reuser said. 

Carrillo also said the way the game ended wasn’t ideal.

“I’m not proud of today’s game. We started off good, don’t get me wrong, it was a good first step, but we didn’t close out the game how we would like,” Carrillo said.

Head Coach Slimak said this is not just a failure but a chance to learn from the loss and apply the lesson to future games.

“That’s the great thing about baseball is that we don’t have to wait a week to play again. This was a bad loss, but we get a chance to rectify it,” Slimak said.

The Kingsmen’s overall record on the season stands at 16-6 . The Kingsmen’s next home game will be on April 2 against Pomona-Pitzer.