RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Heavy hitting and dominant pitching guided California Baptist University to an impressive 9-2 Western Athletic Conference series opening win over Utah Valley on Friday night.
Four Lancers had multi-hit games, while two homered, as they outhit the Wolverines 13-3 at Totman Stadium.
Luke Navigato went 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and a solo homer, while
Chad Castillo (two runs),
Andrew Bash and
Ryan Mota each went 2-for-4.
Mota had the big hit of the game, with his grand slam blowing the game open in the seventh. Castillo now has a six-game hitting streak and has reached base 12 games in a row.
Logan Rinehart turned in one of the best starts of his career, matching a season-high 7.1 innings pitched on the mound. He gave up just two runs (one earned) on three hits, two walks and eight strikeouts. He retired the Wolverines in order in the first, second, fourth, fifth and seventh innings.
It was one of the best outings of Rinehart's career, and continued his recent run of dominance. He's won his last five appearances with quality starts, and over that span has a 1.89 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 33.1 innings.
CBU improves to 27-18 and 12-7 in the WAC, while Utah Valley drops to 11-33, 7-12. The series continues with a 5 p.m. game on Saturday and concludes at noon on Sunday.
The Lancers struck first with three-straight singles in the bottom of the first. Castillo started things off with a one-out base hit and then moved to third on a single from Bash.
John Glenn drove the ball to the warning track in left field, which allowed Castillo to score to make it 1-0.
Damon Keith's first-ever triple made it 2-0 Lancers in the fourth inning. The true freshman's three-bagger scored
Rory Smith, who singled his way aboard.
Navigato then homered on the first pitch in the bottom of the fifth to make it 3-0 CBU.
Utah Valley tacked on its first run of the game in top of the sixth on two hits, including a leadoff double. The Lancers got that run back and then some on Mota's grand slam – his second of the season -- in the bottom of the seventh. Navigato singled and Castillo and Glenn were walked to load the bases.
The Wolverines plated another run in the seventh on two walks and an error. That was all Rinehart would allow on the mound, while
Bryan Pope was perfect over the final 1.2 innings of relief to finish the game. CBU got two insurance runs in the eighth on two hits and two free passes.
Nick Plaia led off the inning with a single and took second on a hit by pitch. A walk to Navigato then loaded the bases, which led to an RBI single from Castillo and an RBI grounder from Bash to end the scoring.
CBU's 27 wins this year are the ninth most by a team in its first season in NCAA Division I out of 40 teams who have made the move since 1998. For comparison, North Alabama is the only other team making the move to D-I this year and is currently 13-33.
Dallas Baptist holds the record for wins in its first D-I year at 44 back in 2004, while Florida Gulf Coast (38, 2008); North Florida (34, 2006) and Bryant (32, 2009) round out the top four. Most recently, Grand Canyon won 30 games in its first D-I season in 2014, which ranks fifth and tops WAC teams. Northern Colorado (2004) and Gardner Webb (2001) are tied for sixth with 29 wins, while UC Davis is eighth with 28 wins in 2005.
