RIVERSIDE – California Baptist University baseball continued to challenge itself in non-conference play as it faced its second ranked opponent in as many weeks.
The Lancers hosted the University of San Diego at Totman Stadium on Tuesday night. The Toreros, who are ranked No. 26 by Collegiate Baseball and receiving votes from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, secured the 7-2 victory thanks to one big inning.
Both teams end the game with identical 16-7 records. The Toreros are one of the top teams in Southern California, with seven 30-plus win seasons over the last nine years, and have now won seven-straight games this season.
Back-to-back home runs from
Jake Skipworth and
Russell Stevenson highlighted the game for CBU. The Lancers have now hit multiple home runs in five of their last six games, which gives them a total of 16 over that span. Stevenson finished the game batting 3-for-3 and a triple shy of the cycle.
Overall, CBU's bullpen was a bright spot, as well. The Lancers used nine pitchers in the game, with their eight bullpen pitchers not being charged with an earned run over the final 7.2 innings.
Seth Mattox was the standout as he threw a game-high 2.1 innings for the Lancers and did not allow a run on two hits, a walk and a strikeout.
Ryan Delgado threw a scoreless 1.2 innings where he gave up a hit and a walk.
Jared Villalobos and
Joseph Romero both tossed scoreless frames as well.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
San Diego scored the first six runs of the game after a five-run second inning. CBU got some momentum going with two runs in the bottom of the second on Skipworth and Stevenson's back-to-back homers.
Defensively, the Lancers got a huge boost from the combination of catcher
Michael Carpentier and second baseman
Harrison Spohn. The duo teamed up to throw out four would-be base stealers in the game, including two in the third.
CBU also turned a wild double play to end a threat in the sixth inning, and
David Martin soared to snag a line drive in right field in the seventh.
UP NEXT
CBU will resume Western Athletic Conference with a key matchup with Seattle U this weekend. The Redhawks will visit Totman Stadium starting Friday, April 1 at 6 p.m., continuing Saturday, April 2 at 5 p.m. and ending Sunday, April 3 at noon. Both teams come in tied for third in the WAC West Division at 5-4 in league play.
