RIVERSIDE--- Home runs were the name of the game on Thursday evening as the California Baptist baseball program welcomed Abilene Christian University for the final regular season series before postseason play begins. The squads combined for eight home runs on the night before Jake Brown secured the 9-8 win for the Lancers with a walkoff blast in the bottom of the ninth. CBU moves to 30-24 on the season and is now 12-10 in Western Athletic Conference play.
Brown started and ended the slugfest during the opening game of the weekend, blasting his first of the night over left field off a 3-2 count for an early Lancer lead. Connor Ross doubled down in the bottom of the second inning with a two-run blast before Andrew Walters followed in the third with a solo shot to dead center. The Wildcasts bit into the CBU lead with their own solo homer in the fourth, but Nicholas Dumesnil answered with a three-run tank for his tenth home run of the season and a 7-1 lead in the fifth. After a pitching change from the visitors, Brown stepped up and immediately launched another home run for his second of the day.
The Wildcats were relentless, though, and after a two-run homer in the sixth, ACU began dribbling in runs during the eighth and ninth to eventually tie the game 8-8. The bottom of the ninth saw Brown step up to the plate with one out on the board and after taking a 1-1 count, he drilled his third home run of the night over left field to walk off the Wildcats to secure a much-needed win over ACU. Brown was the lone Lancer with three hits on the evening, while both he and Dumesnil secured three RBI on the night.
From the mound, CBU also found success in Thursday night starter Cody New, who blew through the Wildcat's starting lineup. The sophomore posted 10 strikeouts with just two hits and one run across five innings of work before Andrew Rudd relieved him. It was Rudd who delivered two strikeouts and secured the program's most strikeouts by a CBU pitching staff in a single season at 466 with the 12th K of the night. In total, the Lancers tallied 15 strikeouts against the Wildcats.
California Baptist will now turn its attention to tomorrow night's game that could lift the Lancers to a first-round bye if CBU sweeps the weekend series against ACU. Tomorrow's first pitch is set for 6:05 p.m.
