Cal Lutheran Shut Out of World Series : College baseball: Kingsmen are eliminated on ninth-inning run by Eastern Connecticut State, 1-0, marking first time they have been blanked in three years.

By JEFF RILEY

May 30, 1993 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Forgive Cal Lutheran’s players if they appeared somewhat uninterested in receiving the West Regional championship trophy.

Such trophies are presented to regional champions after their exit from the NCAA Division III World Series. And the Kingsmen were the first to earn the dubious distinction after they were eliminated from the eight-team tournament Saturday with a 1-0 loss to Eastern Connecticut State at Nichols Field.

The team and individual trophies were small consolation for Cal Lutheran (32-9), which entered the tournament ranked and seeded No. 1.

But Cal Lutheran was left holding only trophies and plane tickets after Jose Soler drove in the decisive run in the ninth inning with a single and Eastern Connecticut State left fielder James Core made two acrobatic catches in the bottom of the inning.

“I guess it just wasn’t meant to be,” Cal Lutheran Coach Rich Hill said.

Eastern Connecticut State’s Mike Susi (6-1), a right-hander who made 157 pitches and gave up six hits, ended a 164-game streak in which Cal Lutheran had scored at least one run. Cal Lutheran, which entered the game with a .336 average and was last shut out Feb. 21, 1990, lost consecutive games for the first time since 1990--ending a 148-game span.

Cal Lutheran stranded 11 runners through seven innings, including nine in scoring position. Then the Kingsmen ran into trouble in the ninth, an inning that has haunted them in consecutive tournament appearances.

Ralph Perodomo ruined Cal Lutheran’s 1992 title hopes with a decisive homer for William Paterson in the ninth inning of the championship game. Saturday, it was the turn of Soler, who took the lead role in Cal Lutheran’s nightmares with another decisive ninth-inning hit.

Cal Lutheran right-hander Mike Winslow (8-1), who gave up six hits and tied a career high with 10 strikeouts, walked two of the first three batters in the ninth and was relieved by Louis Birdt.

Soler, the No. 9 hitter who had been zero for three, pulled an 0-and-2 fastball to left field and Lou Lanni scored from second. Birdt struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

“(Birdt) left a fastball inside and high and I turned on it,” Soler said. “He just kept it up too high.”

With one out in the ninth, Cal Lutheran’s Carlos Cardenas rocketed a 2-and-0 pitch toward the left-field fence, but Core made an over-the-shoulder catch on the warning track and crashed into the fence. On the next pitch, Gabe Diaz lined the ball toward Core, who backpedaled and stumbled before snatching the ball as he fell.

It was a fitting conclusion to a game in which the Warriors came up with several defensive gems.

Eastern Connecticut State (28-10-2) squelched rallies with an inning-ending double play in the fourth, third baseman Richie Clegg’s diving grab that ended the fifth, and shortstop Joe Funaro’s outstretched stop of a one-hop smash to his left that ended the sixth.

“Our defense was unbelievable,” Eastern Connecticut State Coach Bill Holowaty said.

Cal Lutheran hurt itself with several offensive failures. With the bases loaded and one out in the first, Rawley Jacobson and Chris Fick struck out. Cardenas led off the third with a double but was picked off second with All-American Eric Johnson, the team’s leading hitter with a .435 average and a team-leading 44 runs batted in, at the plate.

Johnson doubled and, after cleanup hitter Joe Cascione was intentionally walked, Jacobson looked at strike three to end the inning. The Kingsmen wasted Diaz’s one-out double in the seventh when, after Cascione again was intentionally walked, Jacobson struck out on a high fastball. Jacobson, who entered the game batting .377, left nine runners on base.

“Every inning, it seemed like we either had runners at second and third, first and second, or the bases loaded,” Hill said. “We just didn’t get it done, and you have to credit Susi. He pitched an incredible game.”