California Baptist University
31-19, 15-10
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
23-21, 12-13
Pirko Dominates on the Mound as Lancers Earn Friday Night Win
5/10/2024 10:00:00 PM | Baseball
RIVERSIDE--- It was a competitive evening at Totman Stadium as the California Baptist baseball team welcomed UTRGV for the final Riverside weekend series this season. The Friday night contest favored the Lancers as CBU took down UTRGV 6-5 behind hot bats and confident pitching. The Lancers improve to 31-19 on the season and to 15-10 in Western Athletic Conference play, bumping CBU to fourth in the standings.
Freshman starter Lukas Pirko was a standout after a solid outing that tallied six strikeouts in just the first three innings. The right-handed pitcher went on to toss 11 Ks through 5.1 innings and allowed just five hits. The Lancer pitching staff was firing on all cylinders on Friday evening as Nathan Hemmerling and Ryan Hetzler finished the night and combined for five strikeouts while allowing just three hits and a pair of walks.
Shayne Simpson's lone hit of the evening broke the game open and gave the CBU its first lead after the infielder hit a two-run bomb for his fifth of the season. Both Nicholas Dumesnil and Garret Ostrander went three for four at the plate, while Julian Alvarez followed closely behind with a pair of hits and runs on the night. The Vaqueros did not go down quietly and managed a four-run top of the sixth inning to knot the game, but the Lancers responded well with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead that was never relinquished.
Connor McGuire led the sixth-inning effort after doubling to right field and brought home Alvarez, who was in scoring position after leading off the inning with a double. Pinch hitter Matthew Darr entered the game with one out on the board and brought in McGuire with a sacrifice fly that pushed the Lancers ahead by two. A solo homer in the eighth put UTRGV within one of CBU, but the inning was closed out by Josh Paino with a high jump to catch the line drive. Hetzler cleaned up the ninth inning with a pair of strikeouts, ending the night by catching a Vaquero swinging.
The Lancers will return to Totman Stadium tomorrow evening to celebrate the 12 seniors beginning at 4:30 p.m. ahead of the 5:05 p.m. first pitch.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hemmerling, Nathan (5-3)
L: Tjelmeland, Zach (5-3)
S: Hetzler, Ryan (4)
Batting:
HR: Valdez, CJ 1
RBI: Vazquez, Martin 1 ; Lancia, Steven 1 ; Valdez, CJ 1 ; Warren, Hank 2
SF: Vazquez, Martin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: York, Kade 1 ; Moomau, Easton 1 ; Lancia, Steven 1 ; Valdez, CJ 1 ; Rodriguez, Damian 1
CS: Torres, Adrian 1
HBP: York, Kade 1
Batting:
2B: Alvarez, Julian 1 ; McGuire, Connor 1
3B: Dumesnil, Nicholas 1
HR: Simpson, Shayne 1
RBI: Carpentier, Michael 1 ; McGuire, Connor 1 ; Ostrander, Garret 1 ; Simpson, Shayne 2 ; Darr, Matthew 1
SF: Darr, Matthew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dumesnil, Nicholas 1 ; Alvarez, Julian 2 ; McGuire, Connor 1 ; Ostrander, Garret 1 ; Simpson, Shayne 1
SB: Kim, Ryan 1
CS: Dumesnil, Nicholas 1
HBP: Carpentier, Michael 1
