RIVERSIDE – California Baptist University baseball kept adding to its historic season with a 5-4 victory over UC Riverside to open the Crosstown Showdown on Thursday at the Riverside Sports Complex.
After winning a share of the Western Athletic Conference title last time out, the Lancers kept their focus to secure their 38
th win of the year. CBU is now 38-15 on the year and got Thursday's win behind three multi-hit games and another dominant bullpen performance, which included
CJ Culpepper's 12
th save of the season.
It builds on Culpepper's single-season record at CBU and moves him into top-six standing in saves in NCAA Division I this year. The Lancers' bullpen as a whole dominated, with three different relievers shutting down UCR over the final five innings.
Liam Rocha did not allow a run despite giving up two hits, a walk and striking out two over two innings.
Jacob McCarvel allowed just one hit and also struck out a pair over two innings. Culpepper gave up a leadoff double in the ninth but bounced back to retire the next three batters for the save.
Chad Castillo led the Lancers with a 2-for-4 day at the plate that included two runs batted in.
Damon Keith and
Mitchel Simon both went 2-for-4, as well, while
Harrison Spohn and
Nick Plaia drove in runs of their own.
UC Riverside drops to 14-34 with Thursday's result. The series will resume on Friday with a doubleheader at Totman Stadium starting at 3 p.m. Friday's first game will be streamed on the
WAC Digital Network, with game two featuring an
audio stream and
live stats only, no video stream.
WHERE THE TRANSITION RANKS
CBU's 38 wins this season are the most of any transitioning team in its second full NCAA Division I season out of 49 teams that have made the move since 1998. The Lancers surpassed Florida Gulf Coast for that honor last week, as the Eagles previously held that mark after their 36-18 season in 2009.
Thirty-eight wins are a new single-season high for CBU in the D-I era, as well, after it won 35 games in its 2019 debut season. The Lancers have gone 73-35 in their first two full D-I seasons (2019 and 2021), which are the third most wins by a program in its first two full D-I seasons. Dallas Baptist (76-39) and Florida Gulf Coast (74-33) are the only two teams with more wins through their first two full Division I campaigns out of the 49 teams who have made the move to D-I since 1998.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
CBU jumped out to a 4-0 lead with a run in the second and three runs in the third.
Harrison Spohn led off the second inning with a single, stole second and eventually scored on a two-out throwing error to give the Lancers the first run of the game. CBU tacked on three more runs on four hits in the third.
Marty Munoz and
Damon Keith started the inning with singles, and a one-out single from
Chad Castillo scored Munoz. A sacrifice fly from Spohn and two-out RBI single from
Nick Plaia made it 4-0 CBU.
UC Riverside answered back with a three-run inning of its own in the fourth to make it a one-run game, 4-3.
The Lancers got an insurance run back in the eighth, as Keith led off the inning with a triple and Castillo brought him home when he blasted his second RBI single through a drawn-in infield to make it 5-3. The Highlanders capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the ninth.
SENIOR DAY
Friday's doubleheader at Totman Stadium will be Senior Day for the Lancers' seven graduating seniors:
Matt Amrhein,
Chris Burica,
John Glenn,
Jacob McCarvel,
Chad Minato, Plaia and
Rory Smith. The Senior Day ceremony will take place approximately 15 minutes before first pitch of Friday's first game.
