ARLINGTON, TX--- The California Baptist baseball program came out swinging on Saturday afternoon in Texas as the squad looked to even the Western Athletic Conference series against UT Arlington. A pair of doubles from Nicholas Dumesnil would ultimately be the difference and lead the Lancers to a 7-6 win over the Mavericks, forcing a rubber match on Sunday morning. CBU improves to 15-12 on the season and are now 3-2 in conference play.
Just like yesterday, the Lancers found their way onto the board first with a groundout RBI from Ben Castelli that scored Julian Alvarez in the top of the first. A Connor Ross sacfly in the next inning would pad the visitor's lead, but the Mavericks did not go quietly. UTA put up a four-run inning in the bottom of the third via two singles and a well-placed double to left field. A scoreless fourth inning came and went, but the top of the fifth saw Castelli earn his second RBI of the day to tie the game before Ryan Kim gave CBU the go-ahead run with a sacfly deep in center field.
Back-to-back doubles in the top of the seventh from Castelli and Dumesnil secured a much-needed insurance run, as the Mavericks came back with a vengeance in the eighth inning. UTA scored a pair of runs with a single up the middle on two outs with the bases loaded to knot the game at six, but Dumesnil would come in clutch for the Lancers in the top of the ninth. After Chris Ramirez and Bubba Rocha found their way on base, the junior center fielder stepped up and laced a driven ball off the center field wall to score Ramirez for the win. Dumesnil ends his day three-for-five with two doubles and an RBI to help CBU even the series.
Castelli also knocked a trio of hits during his time at the plate with three RBI, while Matt Chavez also found his bat in Texas after going three-for-four. The CBU pitching staff got control of their free bases on Saturday afternoon, giving up just three walks compared to UTA's five free passes. The Lancers also dished 10 strikeouts from the mound, while the Mavericks tossed five
California Baptist will return for the series finale against UTA at 10:00 AM PST tomorrow morning, looking to take the series for their second WAC weekend win of the year.
