California Baptist University
University of Evansville
BASE Preview: Lancers Welcome Evansville For Final Nonconference Series at Home
3/19/2026 2:25:00 PM | Baseball
RIVERSIDE--- It has been an exciting week on the California Baptist University campus, as a historic season is underway for the Lancers. The CBU baseball program has opened the 2026 season phenomenally, and news broke earlier this week that the squad leads the country in team strikeouts with 286. The impressive pitching has given way to an equally impressive record at 17-5. California Baptist will welcome Evansville this weekend to Southern California for a three-game series for CBU's final non-conference home stand. The Aces enter the series with a 5-14 record, coming off a most recent loss to SEMO.
Michael Malki has been the pitcher to know this season for the Lancers, as the sophomore has jumped into the Friday Night role with enthusiasm, picking up a team-high 39 strikeouts and sitting with a 2.25 ERA. The right-hander will take the mound tomorrow evening as well and will look to improve his perfect 4-0 pitching record, while keeping the Lancers at the top of the strikeouts leader board nationally. Also pitching this weekend will be Niko Urquidi, who earns his first start of the year against the Aces and enters the series with a 2.25 ERA on 16 innings pitched. The lefty has 16 strikeouts this season with two saves, coming in clutch as a traditional reliever for CBU. Bryan Peck will also continue his role as a starter for Gary Adcock and will get the ball on Sunday afternoon, hoping to close out the weekend with a sweep and his third win of the year.
Batting has been just as fruitful for the Lancers, and the squad comes into the weekend with a .309 batting average as a team, while Cole Hansen leads CBU with a .381 individually. The Lancer to know at the plate this season is Bryce McFeely, who has made Division I baseball look easy with a team-high 33 hits. The outfielder also leads the Lancers with six home runs and 10 doubles with 27 RBI.
For the Purple Aces, Charlie Longmeier sits at the top of the stat board at the plate with a .284 batting average and 21 hits this season. Just four hitters for Evansville are hitting above a .200 batting average, and none are hitting more than a .285. From the mound, Max Hansmann has been the go-to guy for the Aces with 26.1 innings tossed this season and 30 strikeouts. He enters the weekend with a 4.78 ERA and a 2-1 record.
Evansville's best win of the season was against #18 Kentucky back in February, denying the ranked program a perfect weekend after taking the Sunday game 1-0. Most recently, the Aces took a series off Xavier in Ohio for their second of the year and look to be hitting a rhythm in March despite dropping a midweek game to SEMO 9-1.
The weekend series is set to begin on Friday at 6 p.m., followed by Saturday and Sunday.
