THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Last weekend, the Keene State College baseball team made the plays they needed to make to get out of North Carolina with a 3-0 record.  Seven days later, they have not, as they lost all three games at California Lutheran University including 15-0 and 5-4 decisions on Saturday at George "Sparky" Anderson Field/Ullman Stadium to fall quickly back to .500 with one game left on their West Coast weekend.

The Owls (3-3) will hope better days are ahead, as they never led in the three games against the Kingsmen (11-3), located in a suburb of Los Angeles about 40 miles from downtown.  They came from five runs down in the ninth to tie the game last night before falling in ten.  Tomorrow, KSC closes their road trip with a visit to Whittier College (3-11, 1-5 SCIAC) before they fly back across the country to take on Middlebury College on the road Wednesday.

KSC found themselves trailing 6-0 after two innings in today's opener, and that ultimately set the tone as the Owls were blanked for the first time on the season, managing just six singles.  Keene State made four miscues defensively and issued 12 walks while hitting three batters and throwing seven wild pitches in the ugly loss.  Down 6-0, Evan LeVasseur posted four scoreless innings to keep it there, but the Owls could not do much offensively against Oscar Lopez (1-0), who allowed five hits and walked one in 6.1 shutout innings while whiffing six.  Aidan Buntich whiffed four over the final 2.2 innings.

The Owls allowed a pair of two-out runs in the bottom of the first to watch a 1-0 deficit balloon to 3-0, and then allowed three more in the second on just one hit – a Kai Caranto two-run homer that made it 5-0.  KSC's first baserunner came in the top of the third on Domminic Tagliaferro's single, but they did not have more than one baserunner on until the top of the seventh when Jonathan Chatfield and Anthony DiGiacomo started the inning off with singles.  A Tagliaferro walk with one out loaded the bases and gave the Owls a chance to get back in it, but a fly out and a fielder's choice on two strike counts ended the inning and Cal Lutheran then scored four runs without a hit in the bottom half.

Mason Pingree (0-1) took the loss, allowing five hits and six runs in two innings while walking five.  KSC averaged nearly 25 pitches per inning in the game, tossing 198 in the game, 68 more than the Kingsmen's two arms.

The Owls erased a 3-0 deficit in the nightcap with three in the fifth and had a runner in scoring position in the top of the eighth, but the Kingsmen got out of trouble in the top half and then plated two critical runs in the bottom half as they posted their second one-run run in three games over KSC.  Philip Jeong began the inning with a single against Dylan Ellison, and then stole second on Jona Dawson's strikeout.  Reliever George Young walked Troy Anderson but then froze Jacob Blickenderfer for the second out.  KSC could not get crucial outs at key times in Thousand Oaks, though, as Alec Nava followed with a go-ahead double into the left center gap to put the Kingsmen back up 4-3.  KSC then elected to intentionally walk Caranto, and it would have paid off if it were not for an error by Young on Wyatt Crosby's ball back to him on the mound that plated what ended up being a critical fifth run.

KSC got a leadoff triple from Evan Cali in the ninth to attempt another late uprising, and Trevor Snow brought him home with a one-out sacrifice fly, but Lucas Rogers bounced to short to end a frustrating day.

Outside of that frame and the three-run fifth that saw Evan McCue poke an RBI triple to right to get the Owls on the board before doubles by Chatfield and Otis Follet tied it, KSC was held mostly in check offensively, stranding nine baserunners.  Cal Lutheran starter Colten Hanson tossed four scoreless innings, allowing five hits while walking one and striking out three.  David Zambelli (1-0) got the win despite allowing five hits and three runs in four innings.  He walked one and struck out four.  Matt Campo got a save with a 12-pitch ninth even despite the leadoff triple.

Ellison (0-1) walked two and allowed a hit and a run over two thirds of an inning to take the loss.  Jayke Glidden allowed three runs (two earned) in 4.2 innings in his second collegiate start.

"We were not competitive in any facet of the game to start the day," said KSC head coach Justin Blood.  "I thought LeVasseur was very good and settled things down some, but we could not defend or control the zone enough to keep it from getting away from us."

"Glidden threw well in game two and gave us a chance to win," he added.  "It felt like we could not get a big hit or a stop when we needed one.  Just coming up short so far this weekend."

First pitch for the Owls' west coast finale against the Poets, who they have only played twice all time (a doubleheader in 2003), on Sunday is at 3:00 p.m. ET.