Downer Dominates as CBU Earns Sunday Sweep

Sunday, March 10

Riverside, Calif.

12:00 PM

California Baptist University

11-5, 3-0

Seattle University

4-11, 0-3

Seattle

California Baptist

Photo by: Rayleigh Rogers

Downer Dominates as CBU Earns Sunday Sweep

3/10/2024 4:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Mariah Rodriguez, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications and Digital Media

RIVERSIDE--- Brandon Downer dominated from the mound for the California Baptist baseball team on Sunday afternoon in the series finale of the Western Athletic Conference opener against the Seattle U Redhawks. The right-handed pitcher allowed just three hits and held the visitors scoreless through seven innings to secure the series sweep for the Lancers, who improved to 11-5 on the season and 3-0 in WAC play.

Pitching was the name of the game on the final day of the WAC series for both Seattle and California Baptist. Downer drilled through the first two innings of the game, pitching against the minimum of six batters. The Redhawks snagged their first hit of the game in the top of the third, but any chances of creating an offensive opportunity were crushed after a forced ground out and a pair of flyouts to end the inning. The first three innings were also successful for the Seattle pitching staff, who held the Lancers to no hits or runs through the three frames.

Have a day, Brandon Downer!

The right-hander sits down 7 Redhawks and allows just three hits across 7️⃣ innings of work🔥#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/PEDdbF7irz
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 10, 2024

California Baptist picked up their first hit in the bottom of the fourth on a pair of outs and were unable to connect in the final at-bat of the inning to take the lead. Downer continued to dominate from the bump from the fourth through the seventh inning, picking up seven strikeouts and no runs for his best outing of the year. Reliever Ryan Hetlzer did what he does best and rotated through four Redhawk batters in the top of the eighth to continue the offensive stalemate.

Michael Carpentier was yet again involved in the winning play for the Lancers after he got things going in the bottom of the eighth with a double down the left-field line. CBU loaded another runner after he was hit by a pitch and Josh Paino forced both runners into scoring position after successfully laying down a bunt the move Carpentier to third. It was Matthew Darr who flew out to center field and brought home the runner for the go-ahead run, ultimately securing the final 1-0 line. Hetzler called the game with a strikeout, flyout, and forced ground out to shut out the Redhawks.

The Matt Darr RBI gives us the go ahead run in the bottom of the eighth💪#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/klIQ8UicbM
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) March 10, 2024

The Seattle series was an excellent showing for Gary Adcock's pitching staff. The eight pitchers combined for a 1.61 ERA through the three games while striking out 25 and allowing just five earned runs. Downer ended with a series 0.00 ERA across seven innings of action, while true freshman Lukas Pirko tossed five innings and allowed just one earned run paired with three strikeouts.

The Lancers were one of two teams this weekend in the WAC to sweep an opponent, after Grand Canyon took three off Stephen F. Austin in Texas. California Baptist is also maintaining the highest win percentage in the WAC thus far in the season, posting a .688 and going 8-2 in their last ten games. This is the first time since May of 2022 that the Lancers have swept a series.

CBU will now turn their attention to a midweek tilt in Irvine, California, as they face USC at their temporary field before hosting UCONN for a conference bye-week series starting on Friday evening.