SACRAMENTO, CALIF.--- Ninth-inning heroics secured the California Baptist baseball program's third Western Athletic Conference series as the Lancers took down Sacramento 5-3 on Saturday night. A game-tying home run and late offensive push improves CBU to 19-12 on the season and 8-3 in conference play.
After a quiet first two innings, Matthew Darr got things moving with an RBI single just before Michael Carpentier brought home another run for an early 2-0 lead. Sacramento responded immediately in the bottom of the third by scoring all three of their runs via an RBI single and a two-run homer. Another pitcher's duel ensued until the eighth inning when Josh Paino knocked his fifth home run of the season over center field to knot the game 3-3.
A three-up, three-down bottom of the eighth from the Lancer pitching staff kept morale high and Jake Brown kept it going with a go-ahead RBI single that sent home Gunner Antillon for the lead. An RBI double from Nicholas Dumesnil brought home an insurance run, pushing the Lancers to 5-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Nathan Hemmerling sat down a pair of Hornets, while the CBU defense cleaned up a ground ball to secure the final score and second win of the weekend.
California Baptist was firing on all cylinders for the team win as the pitching staff totaled 11 strikeouts across nine innings and five different Lancers tallied an RBI against Sacramento. CBU has now taken the lead in the all-time record against the Hornets with the Saturday night victory, boasting an 8-7 record.
The Lancers will return to John Smith Field to finalize the series on Sunday at Noon and will be on the hunt for their second WAC sweep of the year.
