RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A walk-off double from
Billy Rockefeller made California Baptist University walk-off winners in a 3-2 victory over Pacific in 15 innings Friday night at Totman Stadium.
Rockefeller's two-out RBI double to the left-center gap ended an 11-inning scoring drought for both teams. The 15-inning war of attrition was the second-longest game ever played at Totman Stadium, which opened in 2007.
No matter the location, there has only been one longer game in CBU's modern era (2002-19), a 16-inning 4-3 Lancer win over Montana State Billings on March 5, 2015. It tied CBU's 2018 playoff opener for the second longest game in the team's modern era, as the Lancers defeated Azusa Pacific 7-5 in 15 innings at Azusa to open the NCAA Division II West Regional.
Chad Castillo led off the bottom of the 15
th with a single to left center. He moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Rory smith, but the Tigers got the second out, as it appeared a 16
th inning may be in the works.
Rockefeller came up clutch and laced the first pitch he saw into the left-center gap to score Castillo easily without a play at the plate.
It moves CBU to 11-3 this year and drops Pacific to 9-4. Game three of the series is scheduled for a 5 p.m. first pitch at Totman Stadium, fireworks scheduled for after the game. The series wraps up Sunday at 1 p.m. in Riverside.
Offense was in short supply when CBU's
Jorge Valerio squared off with Pacific's ace Ricky Reynoso. The Lancers scored twice in the third and the Tigers tied it in the fourth, with that being all the offense the team managed through the first 14-and-a-half innings.
The Lancers struck first for two runs in the bottom of the third inning. CBU loaded the bases with no outs after a leadoff, full-count walk to Smith, a fake-bunt single from
Angelo Capolupo and a hit by pitch.
Luke Navigato scored Smith on a grounder to shortstop before Capolupo came home on a double-steal attempt where obstruction was called at the end of a pickle play at the third base.
Pacific seemed to create momentum from the ejection of its head coach on an argued call in the bottom of the third. The Tigers used it to tie the game 2-2 on two hits and a walk in the top of the fourth.
Valerio turned in another quality start for CBU, giving up just the two runs and striking out six through seven innings. He allowed just four hits and two walks and faced the minimum in the first and second innings, and had 1-2-3 innings in the third, fifth and seventh.
Five Lancers:
Matt Amrhein,
Mason McGarvey,
Matt Mogollon,
Seth Kaneen and
Jacob McCarvel combined to throw seven shutout innings in relief. Mogollon tossed 4.1 shutout innings where he struck out five and let five batters on base.
McCarvel got the win by throwing the last 1.2 innings in which he gave up a hit and a walk. CBU turned three double plays in the game, in the first 13th and 15th innings to keep Pacific off the scoreboard.
