EDINBURG, Texas – Situational hitting helped lead California Baptist University to a vital 6-3 Western Athletic Conference win over The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on Thursday night.
The Lancers' victory drops the Vaqueros out of first-place in the WAC standings, as they fall to 23-13, 9-4 in league. CBU improves to 24-13, 9-4 to move into a three-way tie in the conference with UTRGV.
It makes Friday and Saturday's game crucial to both teams' standings in the WAC. The series continues at UTRGV Stadium at 5 p.m. on Friday and ends on Saturday at noon. Fans can follow along with live video on the WAC Digital Network and with live stats from UTRGV.
Chad Castillo,
Andrew Bash,
John Glenn and
Rory Smith all had two hits in the game, as CBU out hit the Vaqueros 11-7 and used a four-run sixth to march onto victory.
Logan Rinehart gave CBU a strong start, while
Matt Mogollon finished it off for his fifth save of the year. Rinehart worked around five hits, three walks and a hit by pitch to allow just two runs and strike out four. Mogollon recorded the final seven outs, giving up just one hit and striking out three.
CBU opened the scoring in the top of the first. Castillo and Bash put the pressure on with consecutive one-out singles. Castillo moved over to third on a fly ball to right, and
Ryan Mota scored him with a two-out single through the right side.
UTRGV took its first lead with a two-run third, and held a 2-1 edge going into the sixth. Bash and
John Glenn started the inning with singles, and back-to-back RBI singles from
Damon Keith and Smith gave the Lancers a 3-2 lead.
Keith hustled home on a sacrifice squeeze bunt from
Billy Rockefeller, who scored on a two-out RBI single from
Harrison Spohn to give the Lancers a 5-2 cushion.
CBU upped its lead to four, 6-2, with a run in the seventh. Castillo led off the inning with a single, took second on a groundout from Bash and then scored on an RBI single from Glenn.
The Vaqueros cut into the lead with a run in the seventh. Mogollon limited the damage, though, coming on with two outs and the bases loaded. He came through with a full-count strikeout to keep the Lancers up 6-3 going into the eighth.
Mogollon retired UTRGV in order in the eighth and then overcame a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth. Smith recorded the final out of the game when he gunned down the runner trying to steal second.
