California Baptist University
36-23
#7 The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
29-25
CBU Punches Ticket to WAC Tournament Championship Behind a Pair of Wins on Friday
5/25/2024 1:15:00 AM | Baseball
MESA, AZ--- It was a historic night in Arizona for the California Baptist baseball program after besting both UTRGV and Abilene Christian to punch their ticket to the Western Athletic Conference Championship game. The Lancers took down the Vaqueros 15-9 and then picked up a quarterfinal victory against Abilene Christian in a tight 7-6 final line.
CBU successfully got itself out of the loser's bracket with three straight wins, knocking out the second, third, and seventh seeds on the path to the championship. The Lancers will now face Tarleton State on Saturday afternoon and will need to beat the Texans twice to be crowned the WAC Tournament Champions due to Tarleton's perfect tournament record. CBU fell to Tarleton on Wednesday during the Lancer's opening round 5-3 but has since picked up three major wins.
California Baptist opened the day against seven-seeded UTRGV and earned an early 2-0 lead in the first inning that was quickly overcome by a five-run inning from the Vaqueros. CBU pressed on and tallied a lone run in response before exploding for a seven-run third inning that essentially secured the 15-9 win. The massive offensive response was spearheaded by three RBI singles, an RBI double from Connor McGuire, and an RBI Michael Carpentier triple in a single inning. UTRGV would have a pair of two-run innings, but it wasn't enough to overcome another five runs from the Lancers.
Whole lotta highlights from that seven-run third inning, so we'll show you just a few👏#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/C0Mxj7axkA
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) May 24, 2024
The second game of the day was significantly tighter than the first with every pitch being just as crucial as the next. The Lancers jumped out to another early lead after Josh Paino knocked an RBI double for the first run of the evening. ACU responded with a tying run in the top of the second before California Baptist retook the lead with a sacrifice fly from Gunner Antillion. The Wildcats put up their largest inning of the day in the top of the third with a four-spot, exploding off a double and a single.
The bats were still hot for the Lancers during the fourth, and a second double for Paino secured another run before Julian Alvarez also smoked an RBI double. Carpentier solidified the three-run inning with a single to knot the contest at five runs. California Baptist picked up a lone run in the fourth via Garret Ostrander to take the one-run lead before both teams held each other to zeros from the fifth to the seventh inning. Jake Skipworth ultimately broke through with a rocket over left field to secure the lead by a pair of runs in favor of CBU, before Lukas Pirko shut down ACU's offensive comeback in the ninth to send the Lancers to their first NCAA DI Postseason Tournament Championship.
JAKE SKIPWORTH SAYS WE'RE NOT DONE, SO WE'RE NOT DONE.#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/HFyDncvfnq
— California Baptist Baseball (@CBUbaseball) May 25, 2024
California Baptist improved its record to 37-23 on the year and is now 3-3 in postseason play. The Lancers are set to take on Tarleton on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Hohokam Stadium, and if CBU wins, the second game of the day will begin at 7 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hetzler, Ryan (5-1)
L: Valdez, Tyler (3-4)
Batting:
2B: Dumesnil, Nicholas 1 ; Simon, Mitchel 1 ; Paino, Josh 1 ; McGuire, Connor 1
3B: Carpentier, Michael 1
RBI: Ostrander, Garret 1 ; Simon, Mitchel 5 ; Paino, Josh 1 ; Alvarez, Julian 2 ; Darr, Matthew 2 ; Carpentier, Michael 2 ; McGuire, Connor 1 ; Simpson, Shayne 1
SH: Alvarez, Julian 1
SF: Ostrander, Garret 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ostrander, Garret 2 ; Dumesnil, Nicholas 4 ; Simon, Mitchel 1 ; Paino, Josh 2 ; Alvarez, Julian 1 ; Darr, Matthew 1 ; Carpentier, Michael 2 ; McGuire, Connor 1 ; Skipworth, Jake 1
HBP: Dumesnil, Nicholas 1 ; McGuire, Connor 1 ; Skipworth, Jake 1
Batting:
2B: Warren, Hank 1
HR: Torres, Adrian 1 ; Lancia, Steven 1
RBI: Torres, Adrian 3 ; Lancia, Steven 3 ; Lopez, Isaac 1 ; Warren, Hank 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Vazquez, Martin 1 ; Valdez, CJ 2 ; Torres, Adrian 3 ; Lancia, Steven 2 ; Lopez, Isaac 1
HBP: Torres, Adrian 1
