PHOENIX – Dominant pitching from
Logan Rinehart,
Matt Mogollon and a ninth-inning rally led California Baptist University to an 8-0 victory at Grand Canyon on Saturday night, its first-ever win in the Western Athletic Conference.
Up one going into the ninth, the Lancers sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning and blew the game open with seven runs. It evens the WAC series for the Lancers, with a chance to get the three-game victory at Brazell Field on Sunday at noon.
CBU improves to 15-8, 1-1 in the WAC and the Grand Canyon drops to 11-11, 1-1. GCU is the preseason favorite in the league after winning three of the last four conference titles, and is in danger of losing its 17-series winning streak in the WAC, which is the longest such streak in the nation.
Rinehart made his first start in over a month on Saturday, but showed no signs of rust, as he threw five shutout and no-hit innings, and struck out a season-high eight batters.
Mogollon slammed the door on the Lopes by throwing four shutout innings where he gave up just two hits and struck out four.
Luke Navigato batted 3-for-5 in the game, while
Andrew Bash went 2-for-5 with three runs batted in.
Rory Smith also had multiple hits and RBI, going 2-for-4 with two runs driven home. CBU outhit Grand Canyon 11-2 in the game.
The Lancers took a 1-0 lead when
John Glenn led off the fifth with a home run on the first pitch he saw. It seemed like that might be all the offense, as CBU went into the ninth still up by just one.
CBU's offense erupted for seven runs, as it sent 10 batters to the plate in the final inning.
Luke Navigato and
Ryan Mota led the inning off with singles and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt from Glenn.
Chad Castillo was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out, but
Jeff Bruyntjens drew a five-pitch walk to score an insurance run.
Rory Smith plated two more runs with a single to the left-center gap, and CBU loaded the bases again with two outs.
Andrew Bash cleared the bases with a three-run double off the wall in center field, and then came around to score on a double from Navigato to cap the scoring.
Mogollon continued to excel in pressure situations for the Lancers. GCU threatened to tie the game or even take the lead in the sixth. The Lopes put their first two runners aboard, but Mogollon stranded them at second and third with a pair of strikeouts and a fly ball to center.
A leadoff single created more danger for Mogollon in the seventh, but he got a 4-6-3 double-play grounder and a popup to second to keep CBU ahead. Mogollon then put the Lopes down 1-2-3 in the eighth and ninth to record his third save of the season.
