California Baptist University
33-21, 17-11
Utah Tech
13-41, 9-19
Ryan Kim Homers Twice in Opening Win Against Utah Tech
5/16/2024 9:05:00 PM | Baseball
ST. GEORGE, UT--- The California Baptist baseball program opened its weekend series with Utah Tech on Thursday evening with a 14-10 victory that showcased four home runs from the Lancers. A back-and-forth score would ultimately favor CBU for a crucial win to begin the final regular season series for the squad. The Lancers improve to 33-21 on the season, while moving to 17-11 in Western Athletic Conference play.
Jake Brown opened the evening with a two-run homer to give CBU an early lead that was quickly met with two tying runs from the Trailblazers in the bottom of the second. The home team then took its first lead of the game with four runs in the bottom of the third. The fourth inning was the most prosperous for the Lancers after notching seven runs with a pair of back-to-back home runs after two singles drove in the first three runs of the inning. Mitchel Simon knocked his 22nd homer of the season for the program record for most home runs in a single season and picked up three RBI just before Ryan Kim hit a solo shot to put CBU ahead by 9-6.
The Trailblazers went down swinging and manufactured three runs to tie the contest again in the fifth, retaking their lead with an RBI single in the seventh inning to go ahead 10-9. Julian Alvarez battled at the plate with the bases loaded in the eighth inning and Utah Tech's pitcher walked him to knot the game for a third time. Nicholas Dumesnil stepped up to the plate in the top of the ninth with Matt Chavez on second and secured an RBI single to give the Lancers the final lead. With two more aboard, Kim knocked his second homer of the evening for three insurance runs and a 14-10 score heading into the bottom of the ninth. Ryan Hetzler closed the game for the Lancers and faced the minimum batters, striking out one to finalize the score.
Kim ended the evening with two hits and four RBI, while Dumesnil tallied three hits and two RBI on Thursday night. The Lancer pitching staff combined for 11 strikeouts with both Ryan Delgado and Lukas Pirko picking up four Ks.
With Utah Valley's win and Abilene Christian's loss, the Lancers currently sit in third place alone but the final two games this weekend have the potential to shift the WAC Tournament seeding significantly. CBU will return to face the Trailblazers on Friday evening at 5 p.m. PST for the second installment of the weekend series.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Mattox, Seth (2-1)
L: Carson Bonus (0-4)
Batting:
HR: Simon, Mitchel 1 ; Kim, Ryan 2 ; Brown, Jake 1
RBI: Dumesnil, Nicholas 2 ; Simon, Mitchel 3 ; Kim, Ryan 4 ; Brown, Jake 2 ; Alvarez, Julian 1 ; McGuire, Connor 2
SH: McGuire, Connor 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dumesnil, Nicholas 2 ; Simon, Mitchel 2 ; Kim, Ryan 2 ; Paino, Josh 1 ; Brown, Jake 2 ; Ostrander, Garret 1 ; Chavez, Matt 1 ; McGuire, Connor 1 ; Antillon, Gunner 1 ; Darr, Matthew 1
SB: Simon, Mitchel 1
HBP: Antillon, Gunner 1
Batting:
2B: Garrett Cutting 1 ; Petey Soto Jr. 2
HR: Aaron Perez 1 ; Petey Soto Jr. 1
RBI: Kyle McDaniel 1 ; Hunter Katschke 1 ; Aaron Perez 2 ; Jack Walker 1 ; Petey Soto Jr. 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Kyle McDaniel 1 ; Aaron Perez 1 ; Morgan Albrecht 1 ; Garrett Cutting 1 ; Chase Rodriguez 2 ; Jack Walker 1 ; Petey Soto Jr. 3
SB: Kyle McDaniel 1 ; Hunter Katschke 1 ; Garrett Cutting 1
CS: Garrett Cutting 1
HBP: Chase Rodriguez 1 ; Brennen Study 1
PO: Brennen Study 1
