RIVERSIDE--- The California Baptist baseball program kicked off its series against Tarleton State on Friday evening, securing the first game of the weekend 6-2 behind an impressive pitching duo. Cody New and Andrew Rudd held the Texans to just six hits and two runs through nine innings of work for the Friday victory. CBU improves to 24-22 on the season and is now 7-9 in Western Athletic Conference play.
The Lancers opened the first game of the crucial series strong after New worked through four hitters in the first inning before Chris Ramirez and Nicholas Dumesnil heated things up during CBU's time at the plate. Dumesnil picked up his 18th double of the season during his first at-bat and scored Ramirez to give the Lancers an early lead that would never be relinquished. CBU struck again in the fourth with a solo shot from Ben Castelli before the bottom of the fifth saw another Dumesnil double and a sacfly to build a 4-0 lead.
The Texans threatened in the sixth after plating two and keeping the bases loaded with one out, but New would work the Lancers out of the jam with a timely strikeout before Rudd finished the inning with just two pitches that forced a flyout. The Lancer offense responded in the bottom of the inning with a two-run knock from Andrew Walters for his seventh home run of the year and a 6-2 lead that carried CBU through the last three innings.
Ramirez and Walters both went three-for-four at the plate against the Texans, while Dumesnil's two RBI led the offensive side. While limiting Tarleton to six hits, Rudd and New combined for nine strikeouts on the evening and gave up just three free passes on Friday.
The Lancers will return to Totman tomorrow evening for the second installment of the weekend series, looking for a series win over the Texans at 5 p.m.
