Lancers Suffer Heartbreaker in 12 Inning Rubber Match

Sunday, April 28

Riverside, Calif.

12:00 PM

California Baptist University

28-16, 14-7

Utah Valley University

22-22, 13-8

Utah Valley

California Baptist

Photo by: Daniel Cook

Lancers Suffer Heartbreaker in 12 Inning Rubber Match

4/28/2024 6:45:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

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

RIVERSIDE--- It was a 12-inning thriller for the California Baptist baseball program on Sunday afternoon after the squad made a seven-run comeback to force extra innings. The 8-7 rubber match ultimately went in favor of the Wolverines after a solo home run in the top of the 12th secured the game and the series, dropping CBU to 28-16 on the season and 14-7 in conference play. The Lancers are now tied for second with Abilene Christian in the Western Athletic Conference standings.

The Sunday game got off to a quiet start with both starting pitchers maintaining a scoreless game through the fifth inning. Utah Valley found its way on the board first after loading the bases and crossing the plate after being hit by a pitch. A seventh-inning two-run shot over left field expanded the lead to three for the away team, and a three-run eighth inning secured a sizable lead late in the game. California Baptist did not go down without a fight and Nicholas Dumesnil got things going with a bottom-of-the-eighth solo home run to avoid the shutout at home. Garret Ostrander kept things moving and brought home another run after the Wolverines were unable to turn two outs on a ground ball to the shortstop.

Utah Valley launched another solo homer in the top of the ninth to retake their lead, but the Lancers got to work with a Dumesnil double that put Michael Carpentier in scoring position. Josh Paino hit a well-placed RBI single down into right field to bring home Carpentier and put the Lancers within four. Ryan Kim stepped up to the plate and knocked his fourth home run of the weekend over the left field, making it a one-run ball game. With no outs still on the board, Connor McGuire got on a base with a single through the left side, and a sacrifice bunt from Gunner Antillon gave CBU a runner in scoring position with a chance to tie the game. A double from Ostrander ultimately was the hit that forced the extra innings after it brought home McGuire for a 7-7 ball game.

RYAN KIM!! THREE RUN SHOT IN THE NINTH!!#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/Sv3LBrPABT
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) April 28, 2024

The tenth and 11th innings were scoreless without much notable offense from either side. Ryan Delgado took over for the final three innings and limited Utah Valley to three hits while sitting down three Wolverines. The second pitch of the first at-bat in the top of the 12th went the distance for UVU and secured an 8-7 final score that the Lancers were unable to match. The four-hour 12-inning game was significant for both sides as the series had a major impact on the conference standings. With the series loss, the Lancers drop to second and are now tied with Abilene Christian, while Utah Valley keeps itself in the top five of the WAC rankings.

Kim had a fantastic series outing against Utah Valley and tallied six hits, four home runs, and 10 RBI on the weekend. The CBU pitching staff combined for 30 strikeouts across the three games as Seth Mattox returned to the mound with the Sunday start and secured another runless outing.

California Baptist will now turn their attention to a midweek tilt against UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday evening before heading to Grand Canyon for an important WAC series next weekend in Phoenix.