THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Ithaca College baseball team fell to California Lutheran, the defending Division III champions, 6-3, on Tuesday afternoon at Ullman Stadium in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Ithaca is now 4-4 on the year, while Cal Lutheran in 12-9.

Cal Lutheran took the game's first lead with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. After a base hit and double play, the Kingsmen loaded the bases with a double and back-to-back hit by pitches. The next batter stepped to the plate and singled up the middle to bring in a pair of runs.

The Bombers answered in the top of the fourth by tying the contest up at 2-2 with four hits. Junior Sam Little started things off with a one-out single and classmate Adam Gallagher followed with a base hit. S. Little then came home on a single to right field by junior Jake Generali, and Gallagher scampered home on an infield hit by freshman Jack Lynch.

The Kingsmen capitalized on two Ithaca errors in the bottom of the fifth to regain the lead at 5-2. After recording the first out of the frame, Ithaca allowed the next batter to reach with an infield error. A double ensued to put both runners in scoring position, and then a base hit brought in both runners, but another run on the play allowed the Cal Lutheran hitter to come all the way around to score.

Another run would cross for Cal Lutheran in the seventh inning, as a single up the middle plated an unearned run. The Kingmen's lead off runner reached on an error and worked his way over to third after a single and fielder's choice before coming home on another base hit.

Ithaca cut into its deficit in the eighth inning with an RBI base hit from Generali, which brought in S. Little to make the score 6-3. S. Little led off with a single and moved up on a wild pitch. The Bombers could not produce any offense after that and dropped the 6-3 contest.

Generali went 3-for-4 in the game, while S. Little was 2-for-5. The Ithaca offense was only able to draw one walk in the loss.

Junior Emmett Dunn suffered his first loss as a Bomber in five innings pitched. Dunn allowed five runs on nine hits with a strikeout. Junior Andrew Bailey threw the next 2.1 innings in relief and fanned one, while sophomore Tom Cosentino retired the final two batters in as many pitches.

Ithaca is at Chapman tomorrow in Orange, Calif. for a 3 p.m. (PST) first pitch. Chapman is 10-7 so far this season.