RIVERSIDE--- Midweek tilts are back at Totman Stadium, and the California Baptist baseball program wasted no time securing their first non-series win on Thursday night. The Lancers toppled Pepperdine University 12-2 in seven innings after the run-rule was enacted. CBU improves to 4-1 on the season, while the Waves are still on the hunt for their first win and drop to 0-5.
It was Pepperdine who jumped out to hot a start in the first inning, tacking on its first and only two runs off a single and a wild pitch. Jordan Cole kept the Lancers scoreless through his four innings of work on the mound, but CBU managed to flip the script once Cole retired for the evening. The bottom of the fifth inning saw five runs cross home place for the Lancers, highlighted by a pair of doubles from Nicholas Dumesnil and Cole Howarth.
CBU kept the offense going in the sixth inning, starting with true freshman Chris Ramirez laying down a perfect sacrifice bunt that brought home Andrew Walters. Dumesnil knocked his third hit of the night out of the park down the left-field line for a pair of RBI, tallying his second home run of the year. Jake Brown also got in on the fun and unleashed a 412-foot rocket that scored three runs for the Lancers to improve their lead to 10-2. The final two runs that ultimately enacted the run rule came from Ramirez with a single down the right-field line for his second and third RBI of the evening.
Both Walters and Dumesnil lead the Lancers with three hits each, while Brown carried the squad with four RBI. From the mound, David Vizcaino made his first appearance in the Navy and Old Gold, pumping out one inning of work that secured him his first pitching win of the year. Cameron Teper ended the evening from the hill and came away with his first save of the season.
California Baptist will now head south for its first away games of the 2025 season and will participate in the Tony Gwynn Classic hosted by San Diego State University. The Lancers kick off their weekend on Friday against Long Beach State at 1 p.m. and will then play UC San Diego on Saturday and UC Santa Barbara on Sunday.
