California Baptist University
33-22, 17-12
Utah Tech
14-41, 10-19
CBU Falls to Utah Tech on Friday
5/17/2024 8:05:00 PM | Baseball
ST. GEORGE, UT--- The California Baptist baseball program returned to face Utah Tech for the second contest of the weekend that ultimately favored the home team in seven innings. The Trailblazers picked up their first win of the series 21-9 on Friday evening, as the Lancers move to 17-12 in Western Athletic Conference play and 33-22 overall this season.
The Friday loss has major ramifications for the Lancers as the Riverside squad needed to sweep Utah Tech for a chance at a two-seed in the postseason tournament. As it currently stands, CBU could be looking at a three to five seed depending on Saturday's contests. With Abilene Christian's win and Tarleton's loss to UT Arlington on Friday, the Lancers would need to win tomorrow's game for the series win to secure a third seed. If the Lancers dropped the series tomorrow while ACU and UTA won, CBU would be the fifth seed. A loss tomorrow for California Baptist and a win for both ACU and Tarleton would put the Lancers as a fourth seed. A loss tomorrow for CBU, ACU, and UTA would give the Lancers the third seed, while a loss for CBU, ACU, and Tarleton would result in a fourth seed for California Baptist.
After a scoreless first inning, Jake Brown opened the high-scoring contest with a solo shot for back-to-back home run games to give CBU an early lead. The Lancers expanded their lead in the following inning with a pair of runs, but the Trailblazers made things interesting after tallying seven against the CBU defense. Down by four, the Lancers went to work and a double by Brown cut into UTU's lead. Runs from Michael Carpentier, Julian Alvarez, and Brown tied the evening 7-7, but the home team answered in the bottom of the inning with five more runs.
Carpentier knocked his third homer of the year in the top of the fifth to continue to dwindle UTU's lead. Another massive offensive inning from the Trailblazers saw eight runs come across home plate for the home team for a 12-run lead before bringing home one more in the bottom of the sixth to secure a 21-9 victory.
The Saturday afternoon rubber match will take place at 11 a.m. PST and will be crucial in deciding the Lancer's postseason fate. Utah Tech will finalize their season tomorrow with a win or a loss after not making the WAC Tournament.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ky Decker (2-6)
L: Downer, Brandon (6-5)
Batting:
2B: Dumesnil, Nicholas 1 ; Brown, Jake 1
HR: Carpentier, Michael 1 ; Brown, Jake 1
RBI: Dumesnil, Nicholas 2 ; Kim, Ryan 1 ; Carpentier, Michael 1 ; Brown, Jake 2 ; Alvarez, Julian 1 ; McGuire, Connor 1
SF: Alvarez, Julian 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dumesnil, Nicholas 1 ; Paino, Josh 1 ; Carpentier, Michael 2 ; Brown, Jake 2 ; Alvarez, Julian 1 ; Simpson, Shayne 1 ; McGuire, Connor 1
HBP: Carpentier, Michael 1
Batting:
2B: Hunter Katschke 1 ; Aaron Perez 1 ; Hank Dodson 1 ; Chase Rodriguez 1
HR: Hunter Katschke 1 ; Aaron Perez 1 ; Chase Rodriguez 1
RBI: Hunter Katschke 3 ; Aaron Perez 4 ; Chase Rodriguez 5 ; Petey Soto Jr. 1 ; Ethan Royal 2 ; Connor Tallakson 1
SH: Kyle McDaniel 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kyle McDaniel 1 ; Hunter Katschke 2 ; Aaron Perez 3 ; Hank Dodson 4 ; Garrett Cutting 3 ; Chase Rodriguez 3 ; Petey Soto Jr. 2 ; Ethan Royal 1 ; Connor Tallakson 1 ; Morgan Albrecht 1
HBP: Hunter Katschke 1 ; Chase Rodriguez 1 ; Connor Tallakson 1
