RIVERSIDE – A trio of multi-run homers from
Harrison Spohn,
Russell Stevenson and
Mitchel Simon blew up what was a pitchers' duel through four innings for California Baptist University baseball.
The Lancers flashed their power and pitching depth to defeat Utah Valley 10-1 in game two of its Western Athletic Conference West Division series at Totman Stadium on Saturday. CBU improves to 24-12 on the year and 10-7 in WAC play, while the Wolverines drop to 15-24, 8-12 going into Sunday's series finale at noon.
Chad Castillo led CBU with three hits, while
Michael Carpentier, Spohn, Simon and Stevenson all had two hits. For the second game in a row,
David Martin extended his hitting streak in his final at-bat to give him 17-straight contests with a hit. Carpentier also moved his hitting streak to 10 games this season, it's the fourth 10-game hitting streak for a Lancer in 2022.
On the mound, five Lancers combined to quiet the Wolverines' bats.
CJ Culpepper threw 4.1 scoreless innings in his 10
th start of the season. He struck out five and gave up three hits and three walks.
Liam Rocha gave up the one run on three hits, no walks and struck out five over 2.2 frames.
Jared Villalobos and
Anthony Silvas threw scoreless innings of relief, as well, with Silvas putting UVU down 1-2-3 in the ninth.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Spohn opened the scoring in the fifth inning when he muscled an 0-2 pitch out of the park toward centerfield. It was a two-run shot after
Josiah Chavez led off the inning with a single.
CBU scored three more runs in the sixth, highlighted by a two-run homer from Stevenson. Carpentier and Simon led off the inning with a double and single, respectively. Simon then hit a two-run homer to cap a three-run seventh that included a Castillo double.
An RBI double from Martin and sacrifice fly from Castillo finished off the scoring on the day in the eighth inning.
