OAKLAND, Calif. – The CUI baseball team won both games of Thursday's doubleheader to complete the series sweep over Holy Names, finishing the regular season with a 26-23-1 record. They also improve to 19-13 in PacWest play, making a strong final push into third place in the conference standings.
Game 1: CUI 13, HNU 11
Holy Names put up a fight in game one, tying the score on three separate occasions before the Eagles finally pulled away in the ninth.
Michael Dixon helped CUI get out to an early lead with a solo home run to right field in the top of the first inning, his seventh of the season. Two innings later he hit a 2-run single through the right side, giving the Eagles a 3-1 lead.
CUI was able to plate two runs in the top of the fifth inning on back-to-back passed balls, allowing them to retake the lead and make the score 5-3. Then in the sixth, they tacked on two more on an errant throw by the pitcher and an RBI single, extending the lead to 7-3.
In the top of the seventh,
Alex Moreno hit a 3-run shot to right field for his second home run of the series. Holy Names fought back in the bottom of the frame, scoring five runs to bring the game back within one.
Tristan Hanoian then doubled in the eighth, scoring
Jack Colville to give CUI an 11-9 lead.
An inning later, HNU plated two runs to tie the game once again, erasing a 6-run deficit. However, the Eagles would prove to be resilient as they scored two more in the top of the ninth inning when
Hayden Winters reached on a fielding error by the right fielder, allowing Wallace and Moreno to score.
Mason Metcalfe delivered a solid start, allowing four runs to score in 6.0 innings while keeping CUI in the game before he handed the ball to the pen.
Colton Bulger and
Noah McBride each entered in relief throwing one inning a piece. After the Green & Gold took the lead in the ninth,
Carpenter Pagett entered the game and threw a perfect inning to secure his second save of the season, while also improving McBride's perfect record to 5-0. That save was Pagett's 15th of his career, putting him tied for second on CUI's all-time saves list with Andrew Soto (2006-07). Pagett also struck out seven batters in two appearances in Oakland, making his 30 strikeouts on the season a career-high.
Game 2: CUI 4, HNU 2 (7 Innings)
Starting pitcher
Evan Larsen dealt on the mound in game two, striking out 10 batters for his third double-digit strikeout performance of the season. The Costa Mesa native tied a season high 116 pitches, allowing two earned runs and zero walks en route to the complete game victory. Larsen finished the season with 85 strikeouts, placing him fifth on CUI's single season strikeout list. In addition, he is the first Concordia pitcher since the team joined the NCAA DII level in 2016 to strike out 70 or more batters in a single season.
Shane Wallace,
Philip Quartararo, and
Tristan Hanoian each recorded a double in the win, while
Alex Moreno hit his third home run of the series. Dixon also recorded two hits in the game, improving his team-leading batting average to .353. The junior recorded two hits in every game against Holy Names, bringing his total to 22 multi-hit games on the season.
In total, the Green & Gold scored 51 runs against HNU over the course of the four games, their largest run total in a series this season.
CUI concludes the regular season with the winningest record in the school's DII era at 26 wins, while also finishing with their best conference record since joining the PacWest in 2016 at 19-13 (.594). Concordia reached their highest national ranking this season at No. 20 on March 10, and looks to receive more recognition in the upcoming PacWest All-Conference and All-West Region teams being announced in the coming days.
