Adam Hits The Mark

Thursday, May 14

Walnut, Calif.

11:00 AM

California Baptist University

31-20

Dixie State

31-18

Dixie St.

California Baptist

Photo by: Andrew Shortall

5/14/2015 2:27:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

WALNUT, Calif. – For the second year in a row in a playoff opener, California Baptist University Coach Gary Adcock gave the ball over to his ace and never took it out of his hand.

A complete-game gem from Adam Hofacket led the Lancers to a 2-1 NCAA Division II West Regional first-round victory over PacWest-foe Dixie State Thursday morning at Mt. San Antonio College's Mazmanian Field. Through nine full innings, Hofacket struck out 11 batters and allowed just six base runners (five hits, one walk) on 124 pitches.

"I don't know if there's a word in the English language to explain how hard [Hofacket] competes," Adcock said. "He gets after it, attacks the zone and we feed off that. We didn't swing the bat extremely well, we left guys on base and he didn't let that affect him. He went pitch-by-pitch and he's one of, if not the best competitors we've had here in my 12 years at CBU; that was evident today."

While the fourth-seeded Red Storm took the PacWest title in the regular season, No. 3 seed CBU may have just had the last laugh – unless both sides see each other again in the tournament – as the Lancers improve to 31-20 and Dixie State falls to 31-18. It marks the second year in a row CBU has defeated DSU in the playoffs.

The victory puts the Lancers in the winner's bracket, scheduled to play another PacWest opponent in second-seeded Azusa Pacific Friday at 8:30 p.m. Rain started falling heavily at the end of the first game, which could push games back in the 0
second round.

While the Lancers scrapped for their two runs in the bottom of the second, the turning point of the game came with CBU's defense on the field in the top of the seventh inning. Dixie State loaded the bases with no outs on a leadoff double, walk and single.

"We play the Red Storm enough and they are so efficient at scoring when they get the leadoff guy on, their offense is driven by that," Adcock said. "They got the leadoff guy on and were in a situation they could execute and do some things."

Dixie State got its first run in on a sacrifice fly to center field. With one out and the Lancers playing for the out defensively, the Red Storm elected to swing away and proceeded to line out to Antonio Chavarria at first base on a 1-2 count.

"Runners at second and third with one out, we were giving up the tying run," Adcock said, "so the big out is the soft line drive to first base Adam got. That's the big out, when we're giving up the tying run by playing the middle [infield] back for the out."

With both runners still in scoring position and two outs, Hofacket had one more big out left in him when he inked a full-count strikeout to keep the Lancers on top.

"I just felt good, I just kept trying to attack the zone," Hofacket said. "I wanted to go in the game as long as I could and keep getting us back in the dugout."

In the top of the eighth, a one-out single posed another threat to CBU. Hofacket came up big once again, inducing a tailor-made 6-4-3 double-play grounder to keep the Lancers in front.

Well over 100 pitches heading into the ninth, Hofacket demanded the ball with his play and words. He only got stronger as the end drew near, striking out the side in order to end the game – ensuring Adcock's move to stick with his starter and not turn to his closer, Andy Crowley, paid off.

"I learned that from [Riverside City College] Coach [Dennis] Rogers as a young coach," Adcock said. "If the guy wants it, give it to him. I had Andy ready to go in the ninth, but Adam looked at me and said, 'I'm not coming out.' I find value in that and he did a great job with it."

Hofacket got all the run support he would need in the second inning. Luke Navigato applied some early pressure with a leadoff walk and quickly moved up to second on a wild pitch. A single over the third baseman's head from Nathan Antoun put runners at the corners.

Dixie State looked to get its first out of the inning, as it got in front of John Taurinsky on an 0-2 count. Taurinsky locked in and laced a pitch passed a diving first baseman to score Navigato and move Antoun to third. Gallaway sacrificed Antoun in with a well-executed bunt on the first pitch he saw to give the Lancers a 2-0 lead in the second inning.

"Anytime you have a guy like Adam on the mound, any run or two runs is going to be huge," Antoun said. "It was big for us to get that lead, and watching the way he threw today we knew it wasn't going to take a whole lot because he was pretty locked in."

Each team was held to just five hits. Antoun (2-for-4) and Taurinsky (2-for-3) each had multiple hits for the Lancers, while A.J. David (1-for-3) had a base hit of his own.

"I was pumped, to get this first win is big," Hofacket said. "I wanted to get behind my team as much as possible and pump them up. This feels good, I feel like we can keep rolling from here."