ANSWERING THE BELL
1/31/2008 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- California Baptist was given opportunity after opportunity Thursday afternoon, and although the NAIA's No. 13-ranked Lancers rarely capitalized they did just enough to sneak away with a 4-2 win over No. 4 Bellevue (Neb.) in the opening game of a four-game series at Totman Stadium.
The win moves the Lancers to 4-0, and it is their eighth straight against a nationally-ranked team outside of their region.
The Bruins, who have played in 11 of the past 13 NAIA World Series, including a third place finish last year, fall to 0-1.
Joe Martinez threw a solid five innings in his season debut. He gave up just four hits and one earned run while striking out five to pick up the win. The Lancers were issued six walks, had seven batters get hit by a pitch and were given one costly error that set up what turned out to be the game-winning run.
“Joe was lights out, and he gave us a chance to win,” said CBU head coach Gary Adcock. “He kept the ball down and commanded the zone. The biggest thing for him was he regrouped after that first inning. His best innings were those last 12 outs he got.”
Andrew Newman came in and worked three scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and a walk while striking out three. Brandon Daily gave up one earned run but struck out all three outs in the ninth to pick up his second save of the season. The Lancers' pitching was the difference.
Bellevue wasted little time in its first game of the year. Nick Damas had a one-out double and then later scored on a Drew Farley single to center. After Martinez struck out R.J. Jerrick, he walked Joe Johnson. Michael Pratt singled to left, but Brandon Peters gunned down Farley at the plate to end the threat. The Bruins were not heard from again until the ninth.
The Lancers answered right back when Steve Goins' hit-and-run single put runners on the corners with one out in their half of the first. Brandon Peters tied it up with an RBI groundout to second, and J.P. Lapointe again put runners on the corners with an RBI single to third.
Bellevue starter Ulysses Roque seemingly got out of the inning when Eddie Quevedo grounded to short, but Johnson couldn't handle the one-hop throw at first, and Goins scored. Robert Lundy then made the Bruins pay for the error with an RBI single to left, scoring Lapointe and giving the Lancers a 3-1 lead.
From there, Martinez buckled down and gave up just one hit and two walks over the next four innings.
It's a good thing Martinez was on, because the Lancer bats weren't. In five of the final six innings, the Lancers had a runner in scoring position and couldn't score. They left the bases loaded twice, including in the eighth when they had them loaded with no outs and only scored once. In all, CBU left 14 runners on base.
“Whenever you pitch the way we did today, giving up just two runs, it's going to be hard to lose,” said Adcock. “As frustrating as it was offensively, we were able to offset that with our pitching and defense. It's always good to win, and it's good to know that we can compete with a team of Bellevue's caliber.”
Roque (0-1) and Bret Scarpetta combined to give up just six hits and two earned runs but put 13 batters aboard by either a free pass or a hit-by-pitch, and the Lancers needed every one of them.
With the Lancers leading 3-1 in the eighth, Scarpetta hit a pair of Lancers after giving up a leadoff single to Sharif Othman to load the bases. He then walked Peters with one out to force in a run and make it 4-1, but he induced Lapointe and Quevedo into pop outs on the infield to end the inning.
Josh Northrup led off the ninth with a walk and moved to third on Johnson's double. Daily struck out Gerardo Alayon, but Jeff Giacomini drove in Northrup with a single to put runners at the corners down 4-2. Daily, however, struck out Andy Brown and Shawn Lee to end the game.
The Lancers had just six hits. Goins was 2-for-5. Peters had a pair of RBIs.
Giacomini was 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Bruins, who finished with seven hits.
