RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A four-run seventh inning broke a stalemate and made California Baptist University 5-1 winners over Fairleigh Dickinson in its last home game for 16 days.
The Lancers outhit the Knights 11-5 to improve to 13-4 in this season, while FDU slipped to 2-7-1.
Chad Castillo went 3-for-3 in the win and recorded the first triple for the season for CBU.
Jeff Bruyntjens and
Luke Navigato each had two hits, as well, while seven Lancers combined to pitch nine innings on Wednesday.
CBU makes its first trip outside of Riverside this weekend, taking on a strong UC Santa Barbara that's ranked 25
th by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and is receiving votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's top-30.
Game one will be played at 3 p.m. Friday in Santa Barbara, with the last two games at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, on Saturday and Sunday.
It was a two-out rally that made the difference in Wednesday's seventh inning. Bruyntjens started things off with a one-out single but was then erased on a fielder's choice grounder for the second out. A
Ryan Mota single put runners at the corners and then a walk loaded the bases.
After a pitching change,
John Glenn came through in the clutch with a two-run single to right field to give CBU a precious two-run lead, 3-1, in what had been a pitcher's duel.
With runners at the corners, the Lancers attempted a double steal and induced a throwing error for their fourth run. Castillo capped the scoring with a RBI single up the middle.
Angel Delgado threw a team-high five innings in relief for CBU. He gave up four hits, two walks, one run and struck out five. He danced out of the danger in the fourth when the Knights put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Delgado bounced back to strike out the side and keep the game scoreless at the time.
It gave CBU's offense some momentum, as
Andrew Bash led off the bottom of the inning with a single. Castillo was hit by pitch with one out to put two runs aboard, and
Rory Smith singled through the left side to give the Lancers a 1-0 edge.
FDU tied the game with a solo homer in the sixth and then threatened to take a lead against CBU's bullpen, with a runner at third and no outs in the seventh.
CBU's true freshman pitcher
Mason McGarvey came up with a big strikeout for the second out of the inning, and then
Bryan Pope ended the inning with a strikeout against the one batter he faced to keep things tied at 1-1.
Yet again, the big stop on defense fed into CBU's offense, as four hits and two errors gave the Lancers their four-run lead and win in the bottom of the seventh.
