PHOENIX – A statement was made by California Baptist University in its first Western Athletic Conference series.
The Lancers put the finishing touches a series win over Grand Canyon, the conference's preseason favorite, with a 4-1 win on Sunday at Brazell Field. CBU ended the Lopes' 17-conference-series winning streak in the WAC, the longest such streak in the nation.
CBU improves to 16-8 on the year and 2-1 in the WAC, while GCU falls to 11-12, 1-2. The Lancers continue conference play next weekend with Sacramento State, but first travel for a single game at San Diego State on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Pitching paved the way to victory again for CBU on Sunday, as the Lancers held the Lopes to just one run over the final 18 innings of the series.
Andrew Bash picked up his third win of the season after holding GCU to five hits, one walk and one run over 6.2 innings.
Jorge Valerio notched his first save of the season by throwing the final 2.1 shutout innings. The sophomore allowed just one hit and a walk to the nine batters he faced.
Harrison Spohn and
John Glenn landed the big blows of the game offensively for CBU, as each drove in two runs. Spohn went 2-for-3 with a two-run single to give the Lancers a lead they'd never relinquish in the fifth. Glenn added two more insurance runs with a two-run homer in the sixth. True freshman
Jeff Bruyntjens also went 2-for-4 with a double and run scored.
Grand Canyon still managed to score first, with a run in the bottom of the first. It all came on a two-out rally, as a double and a single scored the first run of the day. The Lopes continued to load the bases, but Bash prevented further damage with a groundout to shortstop.
Bash was nails after that first inning, giving up just two hits over the final 5.2 frames. He faced the minimum in the second, third and sixth innings before giving way to Valerio with two outs in the seventh.
After being held in check through the first four innings, CBU's offense loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth. Spohn came through with a two-run single to the left-center gap, which scored Bruyntjens and
Rory Smith, to give CBU a 2-1 edge.
Bruyntjens sparked the two-run outburst with a single on the first pitch of the inning, while Smith drew a four-pitch walk. An error on a sacrifice bunt from
Chad Castillo put the bases full of Lancers for Spohn.
The Lancers stretched their lead to three on a two-run homer from Glenn in the sixth. Leadoff batter
Ryan Mota was hit by a pitch, and then Glenn went opposite field on a 1-0 pitch to send the ball over the yellow line in left field to make it 4-1.
Defense helped the Lancers out on Sunday, too, with a double play ending a Grand Canyon threat in the third and then
Nick Plaia saving a run with a great running catch on a line drive hit to the right-center gap in the bottom of the eighth.
CBU hosts Sacramento State at Totman Stadium this Friday through Sunday. Friday and Saturday starts at 5 p.m. before a noon first pitch on Sunday.
