RIVERSIDE--- The California Baptist baseball team faced off against UC Santa Barbara for the second time this season on Monday evening, going toe to toe with the Big West squad. Carter Eberhard was the name to know after the true freshman knocked a base hit to walk off the 7-6 win in the bottom of the ninth, improving CBU to 21-16 on the season.
Cameron Teper tossed a pair of shutout innings to open the midweek tilt, charting a pair of strikeouts with no hits. The Lancers struck first with a pair of runs courtesy of a Ben Castelli single, but the Gauchos knocked a pair of home runs in the top of the fourth to take their first lead of the evening by a lone run. The visitors would double down on their lead with another run in the top of the fifth, but CBU's Jake Brown tied the game with a two-RBI double to knot the squad at four again.
The back-and-forth continued through the latter half of the game as well, after CBU took a one-run lead with a Chris Ramirez sac fly, but UCSB countered with an RBI single of their own before snagging the lead with another run via a single. Ramirez came in clutch again with a double to right field and tied the game for the third time in the bottom of the eighth. It was David Vizcaino who held down the Gauchos through the top of the ninth, sitting down the visitors in a 1-2-3 fashion.
The bottom of the ninth put the pressure on CBU in the tied 6-6 ball game, especially after the first out came from the leadoff batter. Ryan Kim came through with a double to put himself in scoring position before the Gauchos secured another out after Jake Brown flew out to shallow right field, unable to advance Kim. Another two walks would load the bases and give UCSB a force out at every base, but Eberhard battled in the box to a full count before ripping a single down the right-field line to walk off the game for CBU.
The win over Santa Barbara is CBU's first walk-off win this season and continues the Lancer's streak of winning over the Gauchos at home to 3-0 all-time. The Lancer offense was stimulated by another impressive evening from Ramirez, going three-for-three against UCSB and posting two RBI. From the mound, the CBU pitching staff combined for nine strikeouts on the evening and did not issue a single free pass to any visiting batter, compared to UCSB's nine walks.
California Baptist will now turn its attention to an early week against Sacramento State as Western Athletic Conference competition continues, beginning Thursday in Northern California.
