LOS ANGELES – Cal State L.A.'s baseball team struggled Tuesday and suffered its first loss of the 2008 season.

 

The Golden Eagles committed three errors and managed only two hits and lost to NAIA power Azusa Pacific, 9-1, Tuesday afternoon at Reeder Field. Cal State L.A. (3-1) had won its first three games of the season against conference foe Cal Poly Pomona, but Azusa Pacific, which reached the NAIA World Series last season and fields a veteran team, was too much on Tuesday.

 

Cal State L.A. is the defending NCAA Division II West Region champions and also advanced to the World Series in its classification. The game pitted the No. 2 ranked NAIA team in the nation in Azusa Pacific against the No. 17 ranked team in the NCAA Division II in Cal State L.A.

 

The Cougars (3-0) pounded out 14 hits against four Cal State L.A. pitchers and managed to overcome three errors of its own. Stephen Kohatsu had three hits and five runs batted in to lead Azusa Pacific's offensive attack.

 

The game was a tight contest through six innings and the Golden Eagles trailed just 3-1. Azusa Pacific, though, scored two runs in each of the final three innings to extend their margin of victory.

 

Cal State L.A.'s only run came in the sixth inning when Tyler Warmerdam connected on his second home run of the season, a towering drive over the centerfield fence. That made it 3-1, but Gagne avoided further damage and the Cougars regained the momentum with a two-run single by Kohatsu in the seventh inning.

 

John Mitchell worked the first four innings for the Golden Eagles and gave up six hits and two earned runs. He didn't walk a batter and struck out three. Azusa Pacific got a single run in the first inning on a two-out double by Nieuwenhuis and a run-scoring grounder by Kohatsu that just eluded a diving attempt by Cal State L.A. shortstop Darrick Hale.

 

The Cougars added two runs in the third. Derrick Keeton reached on an error when the Golden Eagles failed to cover first on a chopper to second baseman Joe Park. Matt Venegas was hit by a pitch, Nieuwenhuis got an infield single to load the bases and Kohatsu singled to drive in two runs and make it 3-0.

 

That was it until the sixth inning when Warmerdam smacked his solo home run.

 

After Mitchell left, Jonathan Hyde threw two scoreless innings before Azusa Pacific touched him for two runs in the seventh. 

 

Azusa Pacific added two runs in the eighth inning on a two-run single by Venegas and then tacked on a pair of unearned runs in the ninth inning. Drew Evans doubled in one run and Chris Cooper singled in the other.

 

Cal State L.A.'s only other hit was a single by Nico Moreno, although catcher Henry Contreras hit the ball hard twice, including a deep drive to left field that was caught just in front of the fence with one on in the fourth inning.

 

Cal State L.A. will return to action on Thursday with a non-conference game against fellow CCAA member Cal State Dominguez Hills at 2 p.m. at Reeder Field.