Simon Leads Lancers to Midweek Win Over #25 UC Santa Barbara

Tuesday, April 30

Riverside, Calif.

5:00 PM

California Baptist University

29-16

#25 University of California Santa Barbara

28-12

UC Santa Barbara

California Baptist

Photo by: Ryley Collom

Simon Leads Lancers to Midweek Win Over #25 UC Santa Barbara

4/30/2024 9:55:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

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

RIVERSIDE--- Mitchel Simon notched his fourth two-homer game on Tuesday evening as the California Baptist baseball program picked up its first-ranked win of the season over #25 UC Santa Barbara (Baseball America and NCBWA) 9-6. The Lancers improve to 29-26 on the season behind five home runs during the midweek match.

After a scoreless first inning, the Gauchos knocked a solo shot for an early lead that was matched by the Lancers in the bottom of the third after Simon brought in the tying run with a double to left field. UCSB retook their lead in the top of the fifth with a three-run homer, but CBU answered yet again with back-to-back home runs from Simon and Nicholas Dumesnil for a combined four runs. Josh Paino also got in on the dinger action and bombed a two-run homer to tally a six-run fifth inning.

Cody New throwing ⛽️!
That's 6Ks through 4 innings!#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/SgJtVrHGBg
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) May 1, 2024

Jake Brown opened the sixth inning with another solo home run down the left line before Simon knocked his second homer of the evening for a pair of RBI over left field to extend the Lancer's lead 9-4. The Gauchos built up a small comeback in the top of the seventh after a pair of singles put two runners aboard for the away team. A throwing error by CBU's infield would bring home a lone runner for UCSB, while a ground out chalked another run on the board, but a fly out to center field ended the Gaucho's momentum and left them with a 9-6 loss.

Cody New got the start on the mound for the Lancers and pitched well, giving up just two runs across a four-inning spread while sitting down six Gauchos. Simon ended the evening with three hits and five RBI, including a double and two homers. The two home runs pushed SImon's career total to 60, while he improves to 20 on the season and surpasses his previous season record of 19. Garret Ostrander also had a solid night at the plate and tallied two hits with two runs as well as a double.

Second HR of the day is as sweet as bubble gum for Mitch😮‍💨#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/oPtvp0sHkq
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) May 1, 2024

The midweek ranked win is the first of the season for CBU with the program's last top-25 win coming against the UCSB Gauchos at home last year in a 6-4 victory. This year's Gauchos have found their way into several top-25 rankings, including #25 by Baseball America, #25 by NBCWA, and #17 by Perfect Game USA. UCSB cracked the top 25 by DI Baseball earlier this season and is on the cusp of reentering as they lead the Big West tied with UC Irvine with a 14-4 conference record.

The ranked win is a huge confidence boost for California Baptist as they turn their attention to a crucial away Western Athletic Conference series against Grand Canyon, beginning on Friday at 7 p.m. The Lancers enter the weekend tied for second with Abilene Christian and a series win would allow CBU to retake first place in the conference standings.