The California Lutheran University Kingsmen baseball team mercied the California Institute of Technology Beavers 14-4 on Friday, April 5 in game one of a three-game weekend series. 

Junior pitcher Luke Wechsler picked up his fifth win of the season as he pitched all seven innings where he allowed four runs on six hits and recorded 10 strikeouts, tying his career-high. 

In the bottom of the second inning, junior outfielder Alec Garcia reached base due to an error by the Beavers pitcher allowing junior infielder Sebastian Smith to score the first run of the game.

“The team’s been playing better lately so it’s good to get a win and keep that momentum going into the next games,” Garcia said.

In the bottom of the third inning, junior outfielder Lucas Danielewicz hit an RBI double scoring sophomore infielder Troy Anderson and giving the Kingsmen a 3-0 lead over the Beavers.

“We were just trying to come out here and play as a team, keep it simple, and take care of business. In terms of what they had we didn’t try and do anything crazy, we just trusted ourselves and tried to come out here and have fun with it,” Danielewicz said.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Danielewicz hit a 3-run home run bringing junior infielder Josh Quinn and Anderson home and giving the Kingsmen a 7-0 lead.

“I was just trying to get something over the heart of the plate and just something I could hit hard. Good things happen when you work hard, nothing crazy,” Danielewicz said.

The Beavers were able to put up two runs on the board in the top of the fifth inning making the score 7-2 in favor of the Kingsmen at that time. 

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Quinn reached first on an error which allowed graduate outfielder Gordon Richardson to score, and graduate infielder Blake Wink to advance to second base. Later in the inning, Smith walked with bases loaded which allowed Wink to score, extending the Kingsmen’s lead to 9-2. 

In the top of the sixth inning, the Beavers scored their last two runs of the game, making the score 9-4 in favor of the Kingsmen. 

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Kingsmen scored four runs on respective two RBI singles by Quinn and Smith, extending the Kingsmen’s lead to 13-4 heading into the seventh inning.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the game was sealed via the mercy rule when Garcia hit his first home run of his collegiate career, making the final score 14-4 in the Kingsmen’s favor. 

“A freshman, Kai Caranto hit his first home run last week before me and that’s kind of embarrassing so I told him that I was going to hit a home run for him today. I’m glad I was able to do it,” Garcia said.

The Kingsmen will face the Beavers again on Saturday, April 6 in a doubleheader to finish off the weekend series with the games scheduled for 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Next week, the Kingsmen will host Bethesda University on Wednesday, April 10 at 3 p.m. The Kingsmen will then face La Verne on the road on Friday, April 12 at 3 p.m. and then host La Verne in a doubleheader on Saturday, April 13, with the games scheduled for 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.