Baseball Wins Four In California Classic

Whittier College baseball began a stretch of ten games in eight days with four wins in the California Classic on March 14-16.  The Poets scored wins over UMASS-Dartmouth (6-4), Rutgers-Newark (8-2), Ithaca (8-7) and Franklin and Marshall (15-13) over the weekend to move above .500 with a 9-8-1 overall record.

Anthony Cappelletti '09 led the Poets in the win over UMASS-Dartmouth.  He went 2-for-3 with his fifth home run of the season and three RBI.  Nick Taiariol '08 also went deep in his 2-for-4 performance at the plate.  Ryan Martin '08 finished with a pair of hits and an RBI and Ryan Crawford '11 hit an RBI double.  Mike Benavente '09 and John Fugazi '09 each had two hits and a run scored. 

On the mound, Thomas Phelps '09 had a strong outing, allowing two earned runs on nine hits in 7.2 innings pitched.  He struck out nine batters, but did not figure in the decision.  Blake Luitweiler '08 improved his record to 3-2 after pitching 1.1 perfect innings.

Against Rutgers-Newark, Taiariol dropped his second bomb in as many days, his fourth of the season.  Anthony Tsui '11 went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI.  Benavente and Ken Baptista '09 each drove in a run.  Chuck Acker '08 scored three runs.

The Poets got another great performance from a member of the starting rotation.  Justin Armijo '09 (2-2) went seven innings and gave up two earned runs on six hits to earn the win.  Phillip Limon '08 and Robbie Smith '08, who made his first collegiate appearance on the mound, combined to pitch two scoreless innings in relief.

Whittier played two games on the final day of the California Classic.  Up first was #23 Ithaca College, and Cappelletti and Acker led the way to victory.  Cappelletti went deep to highlight a two-hit, three-RBI day.  He also scored twice.  Acker went 2-for-3 with a double and three runs scored.  Benavente and Jay Armenta '11 each drove in a run.

Five pitchers got time for Whittier, with Marty Bueno '09 getting the start.  Kody Seminara '08 was credited with his first win of the season.

The final game of the weekend saw 28 runs and 38 hits between the Whittier and Franklin and Marshall offenses.  The Poets had 24 of those hits.  Armenta went 4-for-6 with a pair of RBI and a run scored.  Cappelletti was 3-for-4 with a double, three RBI, a stolen base and three runs scored.  Lorenzo Lopez '09 went 2-for-3 with a triple, three RBI and two runs scored.  Fugazi was 3-for-6 with two RBI and three runs scored.  Tsui stepped off the mound to be the man behind the plate for the Poets, and finished with two hits and two RBI.  Acker went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.  Baptista had two hits, an RBI and a run scored.

Five more Poets took to the mound in this game.  Kevin Pigott '09 got the start, and pitched five innings allowing three earned runs on five hits.  Phelps improved to 3-1, pitching a scoreless ninth inning after watching his offense come from behind with four runs in the top of the inning to take the 15-13 win.