FRESNO, Calif. – The CUI baseball closed out the regular season Saturday at Fresno Pacific finishing 29-23 overall and 27-17 in PacWest. The Sunbirds were able to hold off the Golden Eagles in both games with scores 14-4 and 7-0.
Game 1: CUI 4, FPU 14
On the mound the Green and Gold utilized a four-man pitching staff with
Wyatt Madison getting the start and working 2.2 innings while striking out three.
Dominic Nunes followed with two innings of relief adding another strikeout and
Alessandro Martinez made an appearance in the middle innings.
Luka Brancato closed out the effort tossing 2.1 innings to finish the game.
CUI showed early control and flashes of offensive firepower but a pair of big innings from Fresno Pacific ultimately shifted momentum in a 14–4 final.
The Golden Eagles wasted no time getting on the board in the first inning.
Dylan Knowles delivered an RBI single to center bringing home
Isaiah Walz and setting the tone. Moments later aggressive base running paid off as a wild pitch allowed both
Wyatt Madison to score and runners to advance giving CUI a quick 2–0 advantage.
After the Sunbirds answered with a run in the second the Golden Eagles responded again in the third with one of the game's biggest highlights.
Nicolas Erickson launched a two-run home run to center field scoring
Makamae Du Pont and extending the lead to 4–1.
Fresno Pacific mounted a response in the middle innings stringing together timely hits in the third to even the score at 4–4. The Sunbirds broke the game open in the fifth inning with a series of extra-base hits and run-scoring plays followed by a three-run home run in the eighth that widened the gap and finished the game with a 14-4 final score in eight innings.
Game 2: CUI 0, FPU 7
Concordia saw multiple contributors record hits led by
Sawyer Voortman who paced the Golden Eagles with a strong 2-for-3 performance.
Several Golden Eagles added to the offensive effort with key hits including
Landry Spitler,
Isaiah Walz,
Nicolas Erickson, and
Cooper Marinelli who each collecting a base knock. Erickson and Marinelli also demonstrated patience at the plate by drawing walks contributing to CUI's ability to generate base runners.
On the mound Concordia leaned on a pair of arms with
Michael Panichi earning the start and working 3.1 innings while striking out two.
Caden Miller followed with an efficient 2.2 innings of relief allowing just one hit and adding a strikeout while inducing consistent weak contact from the Sunbirds.
Even with the two losses on Saturday, CUI split the series with FPU
thanks to their two resounding victories over the Sunbirds on Friday.
Concordia is the only PacWest baseball team this season to win or split every single series against conference opponents. This includes 3-1 records against nationally-ranked Point Loma and Westmont.
The Golden Eagles will await to see how the PacWest Conference Tournament will shape out for them with other conference games to be played this coming week.
To see the full CUI baseball schedule click
HERE.
