CBU Splits WAC Doubleheader at Utah Valley

Saturday, March 12

Orem, Utah

10:15 AM

California Baptist University

9-3, 1-3

Utah Valley

5-9, 1-3

California Baptist

Utah Valley

Photo by: Zac Zeman zaczeman.com

CBU Splits WAC Doubleheader at Utah Valley

3/12/2022 3:23:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Andrew Shortall, Director of Athletics Communications

OREM – California Baptist University baseball earned its first shutout victory of the season, but split a doubleheader with Utah Valley on Saturday in Western Athletic Conference action.

The Lancers won game one on a 6-0 score, with the Wolverines taking the second contest, 6-4. It sets up a winner-take-all series showdown on Sunday at 10:05 a.m. Pacific. The finale was moved up an hour due to rain in the forecast in Orem.

CBU's record moves to 9-4 this season and 1-4 in WAC play, while UVU is now 6-9, 2-3 and has won four of its last five games, including a mid-week sweep of a pair of games at UNLV.

Jake Skipworth extended his hitting streak to 13 games this season, with base hits in both games on Saturday. Harrison Spohn, Chad Castillo, Russell Stevenson and David Martin also had hits in both Saturday games.

1⃣3⃣ in a row❗

Jake Skipworth extends hit hitting streak to all 13 games this season.#LanceUp⚔ pic.twitter.com/T2TMmvUetb
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 12, 2022

GAME ONE
Pitchers Brandon Downer and Ryan Delgado combined for CBU's first shutout of the season in Saturday's opener. Downer, a true freshman, logged the first quality start in the second start of his career as he threw six shutouts innings. Delgado earned the first save of his career by throwing the final three innings in relief.

👏👏👏

Brandon Downer logs the first quality start of his career, going six scoreless innings in his second start of the year. He works around six hits and two walks and matches his season-high with five strikeouts. #LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/KeGpbq6dhP
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 12, 2022

Downer matched his career high of five strikeouts to work around six hits and two walks to keep the Wolverines off the board. Delgado just one hit and struck out a pair.

Offensively, the Lancers got off to a quick start and held a 3-0 lead through two innings. CBU wasted no time and took a 1-0 lead in the first after a one-out Chad Castillo double and RBI single from Skipworth three batters into the game.

Watch out, Mitchel Simon's heating up! 🥭

He hits his first homer of the season going the opposite way!#LanceUp⚔ pic.twitter.com/rPTeeultdD
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 12, 2022

CBU padded its lead to 3-0 after solo homers from Mitchel Simon and Harrison Spohn, which was separated by just three pitches and one batter.

⚡⚡⚡

Harrison Spohn shows off the power!#LanceUp⚔ pic.twitter.com/JkcWTRo6mC
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 12, 2022

The Lancers tacked on two more in the fifth. It was thanks to a leadoff single from Skipworth, walk to Stevenson and pinch-hit, RBI infield single from Garret Ostrander and RBI sacrifice bunt from Reeve Holley. The scoring was capped in the eighth on a pinch-hit RBI double from David Martin.

David Martin comes out first-pitch swinging for the pinch-hit RBI double!#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/I2TJN8gNPa
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 12, 2022

Downer faced the minimum through the first two innings, with the help of a double play. He then worked around a one-out triple in the third. The freshman showed maturity in the fourth when he got out of a base-loaded-one-out situation, with a strikeout and grounder to third.

GAME TWO
The Lancers got out in front early again in Saturday's finale, with two runs in the first. A walk to Castillo and single from Skipworth started the threat. Stevenson doubled in Castillo and then Connor Clift grounded out up the middle on an 0-2 count to plate Skipworth.

Russell Stevenson laces an RBI double to open the scoring. He now has hits in the last six games.#LanceUp⚔ pic.twitter.com/DgEsnERGYG
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 12, 2022

Utah Valley came back to tie the game with a run in the third and fifth innings. The Wolverines' first run scored after a leadoff triple. The second came home after a leadoff walk, two-out single and double steal with runners at the corners.

CBU jumped back in front in the sixth, 3-2, thanks to a two-out Josh Paino RBI double. Jake Brown scored after he singled aboard with two outs for his second hit of the game.

Josh Paino gives CBU the lead with a two-out RBI double ✌#LanceUp⚔ pic.twitter.com/l6mPpgpJR1
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 12, 2022

The Wolverines scored twice in the sixth to take their first lead, 4-3, with the help of an error. The Lancers tied it back up on Martin's second pinch-hit RBI knock of the game of the game in the eighth, but UVU responded with two more runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning to end the scoring at 6-4.