RIVERSIDE – California Baptist University baseball swept its Western Athletic Conference season-opening doubleheader with Northern Colorado on Saturday at Totman Stadium.
The Lancers overcame a three-run deficit in the seventh inning to defeat the Bears 7-3 in game one, and led from start to finish in 4-3 win in the day's finale. CBU has now won six-straight games to improve to 8-4 overall and 2-0 in the WAC, while Northern Colorado drops to 4-9, 0-2.
CBU and UNC will wrap up the series with another doubleheader on Sunday with a 2 p.m. start. Coach
Gary Adcock will have two chances to secure his 600
th career win at CBU. Saturday's win put his career record at 599-300-1.
John Glenn and
Ulises Caballero both had three-hit days on Saturday for CBU, while
Nick Plaia,
Damon Keith and
Chad Minato added two each.
It was the pitching that really stood out for the Lancers, though.
Bryan Pope and
Chris Burica each turned in quality starts and pitched through the seventh inning.
Jacob McCarvel and
CJ Culpepper continued to be dominant forces out of the bullpen, as well.
GAME ONE
CBU trailed Northern Colorado 3-0 going into the bottom of the seventh, but that's when the Lancers blew the game open with seven runs on four hits.
One-out walks to
David Martin and Plaia got things started. Minato got CBU on the board with an RBI single, and Keith was intentionally walked to load the bases for Glenn.
Glenn made the Bears regret that decision when he blasted a bases-clearing double to right center to give CBU a 4-3 lead. Run-scoring singles from
Harrison Spohn and
Russell Stevenson increased the Lancers' lead to four, 7-3, going into the eighth.
Pope limited Northern Colorado to just three runs on six hits and no walks through seven innings, while he struck out a career-high nine batters for the second time this season. McCarvel was sharp with two shutout innings out of the bullpen in which he allowed just two hits and struck out a career-high five.
GAME TWO
Burica shutout the Bears through seven innings in game two. It was the third-straight start he has worked through at least seven innings. He gave up just two hits, two walks and struck out six.
The Lancers jumped on the Bears early in game two, plating three runs in the second inning. Keith and Glenn singled to lead off the inning, and Caballero smoked a double to get the scoring started.
Rory Smith then legged out an RBI infield single for the second run, and the third came on a throwing error from Northern Colorado.
CBU pushed its lead to 4-0 in the seventh. Martin led off the inning with a double and was lifted for pinch runner Garrett Ostrander, who came around to score on a wild pitch.
Northern Colorado made things interesting when it scored three runs in the eighth. It could have been worse, though, as the Bears loaded the bases with no outs thanks to a catcher's interference call. Culpepper struck out the side to limit the damage and keep a one-run lead intact.
Culpepper came back out to pitch the ninth and struck out the side again to leave the potential tying run on base after a two-out error. He earned his fourth save of the season by recording the final six outs, allowing just one hit and striking out six over two frames.
