They’re Royalty in SCIAC Baseball

The Cal Lutheran baseball team is cruising toward its eighth Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship in nine years after a three-game sweep of third-place Redlands last weekend.

The Kingsmen (16-5-2, 12-1 in conference play) hold a one-game lead over La Verne (16-7, 12-3) with five games to play and are ranked No. 28 in NCAA Division III.

Cal Lutheran swept two conference games against La Verne this season.

Senior right-hander Jim Harrison, a transfer from Redlands, made the most of his start Saturday against his former team. Harrison, 3-6 last season at Redlands, struck out 10 in eight innings to improve to 5-1.

Harrison has the Kingsmen’s lowest earned-run average at 1.26 and leads the team with three complete games. He has 43 strikeouts in 43 innings.

Cal Lutheran hosts UC San Diego in a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.

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Third baseman Jeff Meyers and left fielder Jason Claros are the first freshmen to start regularly for Cal Lutheran since 1996.

Meyers, from Eaton, Colo., is batting .290 with 15 runs batted in. Claros, from El Cajon, is batting .310.

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The Cal State Northridge softball team (18-16-1, 8-1 in Big West Conference play) will play Wednesday at San Diego in a game rescheduled from March 9 because of rain.

The Matadors will play a make-up game April 13 at Northridge against Arizona, ranked No. 2 in Division I.

Originally scheduled to play a doubleheader, Northridge and Arizona will play one game.