OREM – California Baptist University baseball locked up the Western Athletic Conference series victory over Utah Valley with a 17-1 win on Sunday at UCCU Ballpark.
Five Lancers had multi-hit games in the win as CBU improved to 10-4 overall and 2-4 in WAC play. The Wolverines drop to 6-10, 2-4.
David Martin led the way for California Baptist with three hits and four runs batted in.
Mitchel Simon also had four RBI to go with two hits, including a double and homer, and three runs.
Harrison Spohn (four runs, RBI);
Russell Stevenson (double, run) and
Ulises Caballero (two runs) each had two-hit games, as well.
Jake Skipworth extended his hitting streak to all 14 games this season with a monster home run in his second at-bat.
A trio of Lancer pitchers combined to hold UVU's offense in check on Sunday.
Drew Necochea earned the win in his third start this season after he threw four innings and held the Wolverines to one run on seven hits, a walk and struck out another.
Jared Villalobos threw 2.1 scoreless innings of relief, while
Brett Finnel retired the last two batters of the game on just four pitches.
CBU scored in each of the first six innings. Five of them included multiple runs, as the Lancers plated two runs in the first, third and fourth innings. They scored four in the fifth and six in the sixth, along with one in the second frame to set up the run-rule victory.
Now, California Baptist will shift back to non-conference play at home this week. The Lancers will turn right around and host UNLV on Monday, March 14 for a 2 p.m. game at Totman Stadium. Then, they'll welcome Yale for a three-game series Friday through Sunday. It will be CBU's first-ever meeting with both teams.
GAME INFORMATION
Opponent: UNLV
Dates/Times: Monday, March 14 (2 p.m.)
Location: Riverside, Calif. (Totman Stadium)
Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
A LOOK AT THE REBELS
UNLV was picked to finish second in the Mountain West Conference's preseason poll, and is off to an 8-7 start this season. The Rebels have wins over Michigan State, San Diego, Hawaii, Cal Poly and San Diego State.
Most recently, the Rebels claimed a series win over San Diego State in their Mountain West Conference opener on the road in San Diego over the weekend. UNLV and the Aztecs have yet to wrap up their series as of posting, with the final game yet to begin on Sunday afternoon.
So far this season, UNLV has relied on its offense for success as it comes in batting .308, slugging .489 and maintaining a .398 on-base percentage. As a pitching staff, the Rebels have a 5.69 earned-run average.
Six of the Rebels' regular players are hitting .295 or better, led by Rylan Charles (.429) and Joey Walls (.421) who each come in batting better than .420. Henry Zeisler (.340), Diego Alarcon (.323), Edarian Williams (.298) and Austin Kryszczuk (.295) add to the formidable lineup.
On the mound, UNLV has a bevy of options to choose from. Nick Rupp is the go-to arm out of the bullpen, with a team-high five appearances all in relief to go with his 3.75 ERA, 2-0 record and a save over 12 innings. Joey Acosta (1.35 ERA), Hayden Neirman (1.80) and Noah Mattera (4.50) have all made four appearances this year, primarily in relief.
