FRESNO, Calif. – With a PacWest championship within reach, California Baptist University got to work quickly in its series finale with Fresno Pacific and moved an inch within the conference crown with a win on Friday afternoon.
 
A three-run top of the first put the Lancers ahead immediately and they rode their early lead to an 8-3 victory and series sweep of the Sunbirds. With four games left in the conference season, CBU holds a 37-9, 27-5 in conference record and FPU falls to 20-25, 15-16. If CBU wins one more game or Azusa Pacific loses one more game, the Lancers will win their seventh conference championship, third PacWest crown and fifth conference title the Lancers have won over the last seven years.
 
Still in contention, Dixie State and Azusa Pacific entered into Friday doubleheaders with respective 23-9 and 19-9 conference records. If the Trailblazers and Cougars lose one more of their final eight conference games, they would be eliminated from championship consideration.
 
Not keen on sharing, the sixth-ranked Lancers in NCAA Division II and top team in the West Region can also clinch the PacWest title outright with one more win in their remaining four games with APU. The series starts with 6 p.m. games in Riverside next Thursday and Friday and concludes with a doubleheader in Azusa on May 9^th at noon.
 
Antonio Chavarria, Mark Sanchez and Ryan Williams all had multi-hit games, with doubles, for the Lancers. Vini Haro was solid out of the bullpen for CBU, throwing 2.1 innings where he allowed just one hit and struck out two.
 
CBU's offense stole the show on Friday, scoring the first five runs of the game, with tallies in each of the first three innings, including a three-run first. Singles from Chavarria and A.J. David put runners on with two outs, while doubles from Sanchez and Williams scored one and two runs, respectively, for the 3-0 cushion.
 
It became 4-0 when Chavarria doubled in the second inning to score Sheldon Borson — who walked — from first base. The Lancers notched their fifth run after three-straight singles from Sanchez, Williams and Brian Ruhm loaded the bases with one out in the third. Andrew Montoya drove in Sanchez with a sacrifice fly to center field.
 
Fresno Pacific cut its deficit down to three, 5-2, with two runs on a bases-loaded rally in the fifth, but Stephen Lohr switched momentum back to the Lancers.
 
Lohr jumped on the first pitch he saw in the top of the sixth and sent it sailing it into deep center. The Sunbird fielder actually got to the ball and had it in his glove, but slammed into the fence and the ball popped out of his glove and went over the fence for the homer.
 
The homer was good for three runs after Borson and Chavarria had walked earlier in the inning, making it an 8-2 lead for CBU.