Photos By David Cohen / BHEphotos
David Cohen
3
Cal Baptist CBU 9-1
8
Winner UC Riverside UCR 4-6
Cal Baptist CBU
9-1
3
Final
8
UC Riverside UCR
4-6
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cal Baptist CBU 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 11 3
UC Riverside UCR 0 2 1 0 5 0 0 0 X 8 12 1

W: Lyons, Shamus (2-1) L: Valerio, Jorge (2-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball Wins Series Opener 8-3 in Crosstown Showdown vs. CBU

RIVERSIDE, Calif.—Friday night against Cal Baptist, UC Riverside Baseball head coach Troy Percival held nothing back.

It wasn't because of the hype surrounding the Crosstown Showdown, which marked the first official game between the local universities since 1999.

"Friday night is big," Percival said. "I wanted to do everything we could to win this game."

That mindset showed in an 8-3 win in the series opener. The Highlanders (4-6) got solid pitching and production from up and down the lineup.

The Lancers were the first to get on the board, scoring two runs in the second inning against UCR starter Shamus Lyons. After a CBU single and double with one out, Lyons balked, allowing a run to score. A single after the balk plated another CBU run.

While it left a sour taste in the team's mouth, they punched right back with two runs in the bottom of the frame. Connor Cannon led off with a single and Matt Hardy walked with one out, before Nathan Webb belted a double to left field, scoring Cannon. Hardy then scored on an error by the pitcher.

UCR would pick up another run in the bottom of the third, but the fifth inning is where the team would do major damage. Putting up a five-spot to increase its lead to 8-2, six straight Highlanders got on to begin the bottom half of the inning, including four straight hits. Yeager Taylor, Hardy and Webb all picked up RBIs.

Six of the nine starters had at least one hit and shortstop Damien Sanchez had three hits. The bottom three in the order combined for six hits and two RBIs.

Percival said the team worked for two hours Thursday on its approach at the plate vs. CBU to make sure it would be proactive.

Lyons had another solid outing, allowing two runs on seven hits in five innings to pick up his second straight win.

However, Percival was most impressed by the bullpen, which allowed one run in four innings of work and just two free passes.

The series continues on Sunday when the teams play a split doubleheader. The first game is at 1 p.m. at UCR and then the second game is at 6 p.m. at CBU.