LAS CRUCES – A two-hour lightning delay could not stop California Baptist University baseball, as it used a 13-hit game and strong eight-inning start from
Chris Burica to win its Western Athletic Conference series opener at NM State.
The Lancers defeated the Aggies 10-4 with the help of a four-run third and five-run sixth inning on Friday at Presley Askew Field. CBU has now won seven-straight road games to improve to 32-13 and 23-5 in the WAC to stay in a first-place tie with Grand Canyon in the conference standings. NMSU drops to 19-28 and 16-17.
The series continues with a doubleheader Saturday at noon Pacific and wraps up with an 11 a.m. game on Sunday.
Five players had two-hit games for CBU on Friday, as
Damon Keith,
John Glenn,
Harrison Spohn,
Connor Clift and
Marty Munoz all went 2-for-4. Keith and Glenn both had two runs batted in and scored twice, with Keith adding a double. Munoz also scored twice, while Spohn had an RBI, as well.
Keith extended his hitting streak to 16 games. It is tied with
Tommy Bell 2018-game streak for the third longest in CBU's NCAA era and 10
th in the Lancers' modern era, which dates back to 2002.
Burica stayed sharp, even with the two-hour delay. He held the Aggies to the four runs on nine hits, a walk and struck out six over eight complete.
Ryan Silva pitched a strong ninth inning to end the game without allowing a base runner.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
A lightning delay threatened to cool off CBU's hot start to the third inning. The Lancers went into the delay with runners on first and second and one out thanks to singles from
Connor Clift and Munoz.
Two hours later when the delay was over, CBU picked right back up where it left off and jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Keith and Glenn hit consecutive RBI singles to put the Lancers on the board.
Chad Castillo drove in the third run with a sacrifice fly and a single from Spohn and hard-hit ball from
Nick Plaia provided the fourth run of the inning.
The delay played into the Aggies' favor, as well, as they answered back with three runs on three hits in the third inning. NM State scored again in the fourth on three hits and an error to tie the game, 4-4.
It was the only trouble Burica really had the whole game, though. He allowed just three hits and a walk over the other six innings and retired NMSU in order in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings.
CBU turned the game around with a five-run sixth inning. The Lancers scored on three hits and two errors in the frame. Clift and
Ulises Caballero both reached on a single and walk to put two on with no outs.
An error on an attempted sacrifice bunt scored a run and kept two runners on base. Keith landed the big blow of the inning with an RBI double and another error scored another run on the play. Glenn and Spohn scored two more runs in the inning with a single and sacrifice fly, respectively.
