California Baptist University
13-5, 3-1
Dixie State
13-5, 1-3
Starting Strong in Conference
3/5/2016 7:22:00 PM | Baseball
Offense led the way for the Lancers, as it had the entire week, to a 13-5 victory at Bruce Hurst Field. CBU begins the PacWest season with a 13-5, 3-1 in conference record and a huge upset over ninth-ranked Dixie State. The Red Storm, co-favorites for the conference crown, slips to 13-5, 1-3. Next up for CBU is a home series with Holy Names Thursday to Saturday.
With 16 hits in all, four Lancers had multi-hit games, with Stephen Lohr continuing his strong case for PacWest Player of the Week. He finished the game 3-for-3 with two runs batted in, three runs scored and two doubles. Ryan Williams and Andrew Montoya were both 2-for-4, with Williams belting a home run for the first run of the game. Mark Sanchez was 2-for-5 with three RBIs and a double.
Despite the lopsided final score, it was a tense game for the first seven innings. CBU -- the No. 28 team in Division II -- had led 4-0, but Dixie State had slowly been chipping away to come within a run, 6-5, going into the eighth. With the intensity turning up, so did the Lancers with a six-run eighth.
Four hits and an error made up the late CBU rally. Zack Norris started it with a single, but a fielder's choice and foul out quickly made it two outs against the Lancers. It seemed there was little hope for them to score some insurance, but an Alec Morabito single and Montoya walk loaded the bases before a wild pitch brought home the seventh CBU tally. A four-pitch walk to Chavarria packed the bases again and Lohr deflated the home crowd with a screaming line drive into the corner in left field, scoring two.
An error added two more runs and Sanchez drove in one more with a double to make it 12-5 CBU. Montoya capped the scoring with an RBI single in the ninth, while Patrick Gonzales picked up the win on the mound for CBU to improve to 4-0 this year.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Gonzales, Patrick (4-0)
L: Abrath, Chance (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Montoya, Andrew 1 ; Lohr, Stephen 2 ; David, A.J. 1 ; Sanchez, Mark 1
HR: Williams, Ryan 1
RBI: Williams, Ryan 1 ; Montoya, Andrew 1 ; Lohr, Stephen 2 ; David, A.J. 1 ; Sanchez, Mark 3 ; Porter, D.J. 1 ; Johnson, Tyler 1
SH: Morabito, Alec 1 ; David, A.J. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Williams, Ryan 1 ; Morabito, Alec 1 ; Montoya, Andrew 2 ; Chavarria, Antonio 2 ; Lohr, Stephen 3 ; David, A.J. 1 ; Dabney, Garrett 1 ; Ruhm, Brian 1 ; Gallaway, Jake 1
CS: Ruhm, Brian 1
HBP: Lohr, Stephen 1
Batting:
HR: Rodriguez, Ryan 1
RBI: Rodriguez, Ryan 1 ; Hall, Samuel 1 ; Lucero, Reece 1 ; Bice, Miles 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Rodriguez, Ryan 2 ; Hall, Samuel 1 ; Hill II, Jerome 1 ; Feist, Bryce 1
SB: Morache, Tanner 1
CS: Morache, Tanner 1
HBP: Hall, Samuel 1 ; Lucero, Reece 1
