Balance at the Plate Leads Lancers

Thursday, April 6

Alameda, Calif.

11:00 AM

California Baptist University

23-12, 14-7

Holy Names

8-26, 5-16

California Baptist

Holy Names

Photo by: Andrew Shortall

Balance at the Plate Leads Lancers

4/6/2017 3:25:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

ALAMEDA, Calif. – Everyone got in on the action offensively Thursday as California Baptist University swept its PacWest series-opening doubleheader with Holy Names at the College of Alameda.

CBU won convincingly on a score of 10-3 in game one and held off the Hawks for a 5-3 victory in the day's finale. The Lancers improve to 24-12, 16-7 in the PacWest and Holy Names drops to 8-27, 5-17 going into two more games Friday and Saturday, both starting at 2 p.m.

Eight different Lancers logged base hits, with the team accomplishing that feat in game one alone. John Glenn led the offense, going 4-for-7 on the day, while Ryan Williams (3-for-6) and Bryce Macy (3-for-7) each had three hits.

After sitting out the last 31 games with an injury, Tommy Bell went 2-for-6 at the plate, while Brian Ruhm and Luke Navigato also had two hits on Thursday.

In game one, Garett King continued his remarkable run of success on the mound and threw six shutout innings, allowing seven base runners (five hits, two walks) and striking out eight on 96 pitches.

Offensively, CBU eased the pressure on the pitching staff by scoring the first seven runs of the day.

A leadoff single from Williams led to the Lancers scoring one in the top of the second inning. After a fielder's choice, Williams was replaced on base by DJ Porter. A two-out single from Glenn moved Porter to third and then he stole home for the first run of the day.

Andrew Bash started the sixth with a home run to left field, sparking a six-run outburst in the inning. Alfredo Rodriguez then singled aboard and stole second, with two outs, before coming home on a Macy double. Williams walked his way aboard and worked a double steal with Macy to put both runners in scoring position. Bell came up with a two-run single to left field to continue pouring it on the Hawks before Glenn capped the two-out rally with an RBI single into center, making it 7-0 CBU.

Holy Names pulled within four, 7-3, with a run in the seventh and two in the eighth, but the Lancers got all those runs back with a three-run ninth. It started with a one-out walk to Rodriguez, who tagged up to second on a fly ball to left, and Macy doubled him home again. The next batter, Williams, bashed a two-run homer to left to cap the scoring.

Seth Kaneen picked up the four-out save for his fourth save of the season. The left-handed reliever retired all four batters he faced, coming on with two outs in the eighth and runners on second and third, CBU leading 7-3. The sophomore got out of the jam with a grounder back to the mound and then put the Hawks down in order in the ninth.

The Lancers scored early and often in game two, putting up five runs in the first two innings. In the first frame, leadoff walks to Navigato and Macy set up an RBI double from Bell and run-scoring single from Glenn to put CBU ahead 2-0 right away.

Ruhm singled on with one out in the second inning, stole second and third and then scored on a two-out single from Navigato. Macy drew a walk afterward to put two runners on and Williams doubled them both in to make it 5-0 in favor of CBU.

Holy Names made it interesting, with a run in the fourth and two more in the sixth. Morgan Earman kept the Lancers ahead and ended the Hawks' rally in the sixth. Down 5-3, HNU had the go-ahead run at the plate, with two men on and one out, but Earman struck out consecutive batters to keep CBU up by two. Earman stayed in the game and sat down the first two batters of the seventh before Brody Robinson came on and got the final out of the game.