Box Score The most successful season in the five-year history of Cal State San Marcos baseball came to an end in Riverside on Saturday at the NAIA National Championship Opening Round, as top seed and host school Cal Baptist defeated the Cougars 4-2.
Fourth-seeded CSUSM closes out its season with a 34-19 record. Cal Baptist advances to play Concordia in the championship game, and is now 43-15.
In a season full of highlights for Coach Dennis Pugh's Cougars, the one sore spot will undoubtedly be an 0-5 record against Cal Baptist, with all five games decided by a total of seven runs. The Cougars have played the #3-ranked Lancers tough every inning of every game between the two squads, but CBU has prevailed in the end, and that was the case once again on Saturday.
Cal Baptist sent Patrick Smith to the mound. The 6'2” righty has worked almost exclusively out of the bullpen this year and been very effective in that role, recording a 2.33 ERA in 38.2 innings pitched. The Cougar lineup would go quickly to work off of him, with Kyle Secciani bleeding out a leadoff walk and Trent Jemmett promptly lined a double to right-center. Though Secciani would be gunned down trying to score, Jemmett would advance to third and score on a throwing error on a Kevin Silvett grounder.
Taking the mound for CSUSM was Matt Kretchmer. The big 6'6” senior lefty has battled some injuries, but has a sparkling 6-1 record to go along with a 4.78 ERA in 64 innings pitched.
Kretchmer struggled some with control early, walking the leadoff man. After a strikeout, he hit the next batter, and a wild pitch put runners at the corners. Kretchmer's defense held strong though, as the Cougars foiled a double-steal and cut down the runner at home. Cleanup hitter Kevin Odom flied out to end the frame.
There was no such drama in the second, as the pitchers traded quick innings. Cal Baptist threatened in the bottom of the third, but once again the Cougar defense was up to the task. After a leadoff walk to Sharif Othman, CSUSM threw out Jake Johnson trying to stretch a single into a double, and then cut down Othman at home trying to score on a Ryan Douglass grounder. Kretchmer got Brian Sharp to fly out to end the frame.
Neither team would seriously threaten until the fifth, when Cougars Anthony Renteria and Mike Mecucci led off the top of the inning with base hits. Smith would work his way around it though, and with the bases loaded and one out got the dangerous Jemmett to ground into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double-play.
That missed opportunity would loom quite large, and immediately come back to haunt the visitors as CBU broke through for four runs in the bottom of the frame. A pair of walks set the stage, and Odom knocked an RBI single up the middle, followed by a two-run Josh Manzano double. That ended Kretchmer's day, and after reliever Matt Bataska was greeted with two singles that resulted in another run, yesterday's bullpen hero Andrew Larsen put out the fire and got the final out.
This year's Cougars are nothing if not resilient, and down 4-1 offered a quick response. Senior Kevin Silvett roped a double into left, and came in to score on fellow senior Johnny Omahen's base hit up the middle.
Smith escaped the sixth with no further damage and continued to mostly stifle the Cougar lineup. Larsen, however, matched him out-for-out, and despite pitching for the third time in as many days, worked scoreless sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to keep his team alive down only 4-2, tossing 3 1/3 innings of one-hit ball. Larsen will unquestionably go down as one of the unsung heroes of the Cougars' run at Nationals.
That run would unfortunately come to an end in the ninth, with Smith getting Omahen to fly out and striking out Baum. After Renteria was hit by a pitch, Mecucci sharply lined out to third base to end the game and the season for San Marcos.
CSUSM finishes third in the Riverside Bracket with a 2-2 record – a terrific showing in the team's first appearance at Nationals.
