RIVERSIDE – California Baptist University baseball secured its fourth Western Athletic Conference series victory of the season after it swept its doubleheader with Utah Valley on Saturday.
The Lancers got strong performances from their offense and some solid pitching in their 7-3 and 11-7 wins at Totman Stadium. It keeps CBU in first place in the WAC standings at 24-11 overall and 16-3 in conference. CBU will have chance to wrap up its third WAC sweep this year in Sunday's series finale at noon, as Utah Valley falls to 7-30, 5-19.
Harrison Spohn, John Glenn and Damon Keith all had at least four-hit days on Saturday. Spohn went 5-for-8 with three doubles, three runs batted in and a stolen base. Glenn was 4-for-7 with two RBI, two runs and a double. Keith finished up 5-for-9 with four RBI, three runs scored and two doubles.
The Lancers got big pitching performances from
Bryan Pope and
Jacob McCarvel, as well. Pope threw his second-straight complete game in the opener, while McCarvel was clutch in relief in the finale.
WAC STANDINGS UPDATE
The Lancers' three conference losses (16-3) are still a WAC low. Grand Canyon holds at second place with a 16-4 league record, as it has the weekend off from WAC play. Sacramento State dropped a game to Northern Colorado to fall to 16-7 in the WAC but still maintain its third-place standing. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has won five-straight games to move into fourth place at 11-8.
GAME ONE
Spohn and Glenn led CBU's offense with three hits each in Saturday's opener. Spohn went 3-for-3 with three RBI and two doubles. Glenn was 3-for-4 with an RBI, as well.
Pope gave up just one earned run, five hits and a walk and struck out nine over seven innings. He was downright dominant outside of the fourth inning when UVU scored all three of its runs on three hits and two errors. Pope was perfect with four strikeouts through the first two innings and faced just one over the minimum through three complete. He retired eight of the final nine batters he faced from the fifth through the seventh to finish as strong as he started.
Offensively, the Lancers scored first in the second inning.
Nick Plaia drew a leadoff walk and then moved all the way over to third on a perfect hit-and-run through the right side from Spohn.
Mitchel Simon then plated Plaia with a sacrifice fly to center field.
When Utah Valley took a 3-1 lead in the fourth, CBU had an immediate response and tied the game with two runs in the bottom half. An error and a Plaia double put two runners on for Spohn, who laced an 0-2 double into right center to score two more runs and tie the game at 3-3.
CBU scrapped together another run for a 4-3 lead in the fifth. Glenn led off the inning with a single and another UVU error set the table for a Plaia sacrifice fly. Back-to-back doubles from Spohn and
Grady Tuohy added three more runs and capped the scoring at 7-3.
GAME TWO
Keith led CBU with a 4-for-5 game that included four RBI and two runs in Saturday's finale.
Chad Castillo, Spohn and Simon all had two hits, as well, with Castillo and Simon both adding two RBI, as well.
Although he didn't earn the win, McCarvel was sharp in relief, as he allowed just one base runner on a hit by pitch and struck out four batters over 2.2 innings.
Drew Necochea earned his third win of the season after going 5.1 innings on the mound in his start.
The Lancers took control of the game early, with a five-run second inning and three-run third. In the second inning, CBU got back-to-back-to-back RBI hits from Keith, Glenn and Castillo.
Simon drove in a run in the third inning and Keith raked his second two-RBI single of the game to give CBU an 8-0 lead. The Lancers scored their ninth run for a 9-2 lead after singles from Keith and Castillo and a wild pitch in the fifth.
Two more CBU runs scored Simon picked up his eighth RBI of the series in the sixth inning and
Jonah Paez drove in the Lancers' final run with a sacrifice fly in his first at-bat for CBU.
The Wolverines kept the game interesting with a four-run sixth inning. McCarvel kept it from getting any worse when he came on in relief with the bases loaded, two outs and got a groundout to shortstop.
