Cal Lutheran Tops Tritons in Opener : Baseball: Wilcox gets key hit as UCSD falls in extra innings, 5-4, in first game of best-of-five game series.

SAN DIEGO —  Despite its remarkable first baseball season as an NCAA Division III member, there was still one facet of the game top-ranked Cal Lutheran had not experienced before Friday’s West Regional playoff opener at UC San Diego.

Extra innings?

“We had never been in that situation,” said Jason Wilcox, Kingsmen second baseman, after seeing to it the experience was short and joyous.

Wilcox’s one-out single in the bottom of the 10th inning drove in pinch-runner Ricardo Bernal and gave Cal Lutheran a 5-4 victory and 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Games 2 and 3 will be played today beginning at noon. Games 4 and 5, if necessary, are scheduled for Sunday.

It was hardly a typical game for Cal Lutheran.

Through its first 39 games--36 of them victories--Cal Lutheran had outscored its opponents, 392-96, held a 72-14 home run advantage, and had trailed only a few times.

UCSD’s David Blum hit the only home run Friday, and it helped stake the Tritons (27-7-1) to a 3-0 lead after 6 1/2 innings.

Cal Lutheran’s half of the seventh started inauspiciously--Eddie Lample struck out and Darrell McMillin grounded out--but the next five Kingsmen got hits and Cal Lutheran took a 4-3 lead into the eighth.

The barrage started with singles by Mike Suarez, Eric Johnson and Jay Lucas--Lucas’s hit to left drove in two. Bob Farber then tripled to deep right field, driving in Lucas, and Farber scored when Triton first baseman David Rex overthrew third trying to nail Farber.

After Kurt Luhrsen replaced Triton starter Bryan Thomason, Dan Smith doubled to left but was stranded when Pete Martin popped to third.

Kingsmen Coach Rich Hill said he was never worried.

“Anytime we get into an intense situation, I feel really good about my guys,” Hill said. “They have such great team chemistry. They really fight for each other. They just don’t feel they can lose.”

Neither did UCSD, which tied the game in the eighth when Ernie Isola scored from third on a one-out, bases-loaded grounder by Doran Yount.

In the decisive 10th, Farber led off with a walk off loser Ryan Flanagan (7-2). Smith then sacrificed pinch-runner Bernal to second, and Pete Martin walked before Wilcox stepped to the plate.

Wilcox, Cal Lutheran’s best base stealer, usually bats leadoff or in the No. 6 position. Because Wilcox has been struggling lately, Hill put him in the eighth spot for the first time this season.

UCSD Coach Lyle Yates provided his share of surprises, too, by not starting pitching ace Brent Hansen (10-0), who had beaten Cal Lutheran earlier this year.

“The plan coming in was to have them think Brent Hansen was starting,” said Yates, who added: “(Thomason) had thrown well down the stretch, and they had never seen him.”