CBU Holds Off Nevada for Fourth-Straight Win

Thursday, March 5

Reno, Nev.

3:00 PM

California Baptist University

6-5

Nevada

0-10

California Baptist

Nevada

CBU Holds Off Nevada for Fourth-Straight Win

3/5/2020 8:07:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Director of Athletics Communications

RENO – Matt Amrhein and Jorge Valerio stopped a late Nevada rally right in its tracks, as California Baptist University's two stoppers out of the bullpen retired all six batters they faced in the eighth and ninth innings to secure the Lancers' 6-5 win over the Wolf Pack.

The Lancers scored six-straight runs on Thursday night at Don Weir Field, and then stopped Nevada's three-run rally in the eighth. CBU extended its winning streak to four games as a result, as its record moves to 6-5 on the year. UNR starts the season 0-10.

🖊️ IS MIGHTIER

Relievers Matt Amrhein and Jorge Valerio closed the door on Nevada, as each retired all three batters they faced in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively. Valerio earns his third save of the season and second in a row.#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/MKmiDMWdtZ
— CBU Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 6, 2020

The Wolf Pack led off the eighth with back-to-back doubles, but Amrhein came out of the bullpen with the runner on second, no outs and shut the door. A sacrifice bunt, an RBI grounder to second base and strikeout ended the inning with CBU up by one, 6-5.

Another great outing from Bryan Pope. He throws 6.2 innings, giving up just three runs on six hits and one walk. For the second game in a row, he matches his career-high for strikeouts in a game with eight.#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/wL8OX81D9r
— CBU Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 6, 2020

Valerio then retired all three batters he saw in the ninth, as well, on a flyout, grounder back to himself and a liner to center. It gave starting pitcher Bryan Pope his third win of the season in his fourth appearance.

Pope held Nevada to six hits, one walk and two earned runs through the first 6.2 innings. He also matched his career-high of eight strikeouts for the second game in a row.

Chad Castillo put together the first 4⃣ hit game of his career in Reno. He also doubled, scored twice and drove in a run.#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/IpI07zxKTg
— CBU Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 6, 2020

Offensively, CBU logged 13 hits in the game. The heart of the Lancers' order got the job done, as their 3-4-5 hitters batted a combined 9-for-14. Chad Castillo put together the first four-hit game of his career, as he the sophomore was 4-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and a run batted in. Ulises Caballero and Harrison Spohn both went 2-for-4 with at least one RBI for the Lancers.

The Lancers and Wolf Pack continue their series Friday at 3 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. before the finale Sunday at noon.

Nevada is a storied program coming off a 30-win season and finished one win shy of advancing to the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship in 2019. It led to the Wolf Pack being picked to finish third in the Mountain West Conference, with two first-place votes, in the conference's preseason coaches poll.

The Wolf Pack has won five conference titles, most recently in 2018, and made four NCAA postseason appearances. Over the last 31 seasons, Nevada has won 66.8 percent of its home games, with a 561-278 record at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park.

Nevada scored first on Thursday, with two runs in the bottom of the second, but the Lancers erased their deficit with two runs of their own in the third. Back-to-back, one-out doubles from Damon Keith and Castillo got CBU on the board. A single from Caballero put runners at the corners, and allowed Spohn to tie the game with a sacrifice fly to center field.

🙌🙌🙌

CBU takes its first lead of the game in the fifth inning, 4⃣➖2⃣. Chad Castillo and Ulises Caballero start the inning with doubles, and Harrison Spohn adds an RBI triple.#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/g4lUnYadmI
— CBU Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 6, 2020

CBU took its first lead of the game, 4-2, with two more runs in the fifth. Castillo led off the inning with his second double, and Caballero doubled him home right after. Spohn logged his second RBI of the game with a triple.

Two more Lancers came around to score in the sixth, as they pushed their cushion to 6-2. Three walks – including a full-count, bases-loaded one to Jeff Bruyntjens – singles from Nick Plaia and Castillo and a sacrifice fly from Spohn did the damage for CBU.