Record Crowd Cheers CBU Onto Opening Day Win

Friday, February 18

Riverside, Calif.

6 PM

California Baptist University

1-0

Coppin State

0-1

Coppin State

California Baptist

Record Crowd Cheers CBU Onto Opening Day Win

2/18/2022 8:55:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Director of Athletics Communications

RIVERSIDE – California Baptist University baseball started the 2022 season with an 8-1 win over Coppin State in front of a record sellout crowd on Friday.

🙏🙏🙏

Thank you, Lancer Nation, for showing out! Tonight's standing-room-only crowd of 1,305 sets a new attendance record at Totman Stadium! #LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/JKAHlAXcvs
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) February 19, 2022

A total of 1,305 fans packed Totman Stadium for Opening Day, which set a new record for the Lancers, who open the season 1-0 while the Eagles begin 0-1.

LANCERS WIN❗️

CBU opens the season with an 8-1 victory over Coppin State. CJ Culpepper gets the win on the mound, while Jake Skipworth, Harrison Spohn and Chad Castillo all have multi-hit games. #LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/HJAsps2gsS
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) February 19, 2022

Jake Skipworth, a transfer from Cal, led CBU's offense with two hits and three runs batted in on the night. Chad Castillo and Harrison Spohn both had two-hit games with doubles, as well. Castillo also scored three times in the game, while Spohn and David Martin both scored twice.

𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗔𝗧 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞

Chad Castillo doubles down the line for his second hit of the game. #LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/zxcUbauD5U
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) February 19, 2022

Pitching wise, CBU rattled off 11 strikeouts as a staff. CJ Culpepper, a preseason All-American and All-WAC pitcher, led the way with a career-high seven in his first start since his true freshman season in 2020. He logged a career-high five innings and held the Eagles scoreless, as he allowed just two hits and no walks.

CJ Culpepper puts together a career performance on Opening Day. He logs career-highs in innings pitched (5) and strikeouts (7).#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/PMy0ZHQVt6
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) February 19, 2022

Spencer Bengard threw three innings in relief for CBU and had four strikeouts. True freshman Carson Olsen closed out the game with a scoreless ninth inning of work.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
The first two innings went by without a run scored before the Lancers scored the first six runs of the game. CBU opened things up with a three-run third. It loaded the bases with no outs in the innings after walks to Martin and Spohn sandwiched around a Castillo single. Skipworth landed the big blow with a two RBI single after Russell Stevenson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for the first run of the game.

👏👏👏

Welcome to CBU, Jake Skipworth! #LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/wgOyHWE1Iq
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) February 19, 2022

The Lancers tacked on three more runs in the fourth. Skipworth had his second hit and third RBI in the inning, while an error and Ulises Caballero grounder scored the other two runs in the inning.

Harrison Spohn doubles to the wall for his second hit of the game. He has 39 doubles in his career, which ranks him top-15 in CBU history.#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/Y15ySf6go7
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) February 19, 2022

Stevenson drove in CBU's seventh run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth. Castillo scored on the play after leading off the inning with a double. Spohn started the eighth inning with a double and then scored on a single up the middle from Shayne Simpson.

Shayne Simpson swings at the first pitch he sees of the season and drives in a run.#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/n2YaOhamRJ
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) February 19, 2022

UP NEXT
The Lancers and Eagles continue their three-game series on Saturday and Sunday at 5 p.m. and noon, respectively, at Totman Stadium. CBU will play its first 10 games at home this season, with Purdue Fort Wayne (Feb. 25-27) visiting Riverside next week before Western Athletic Conference play opens when Grand Canyon comes to town (March 4-6).

Season tickets are on sale now at CBULancers.com/baseballtickets, with prices at $99 for adults and $60 for children. Individual games can also be purchased HERE.