Esquerra, the Lancers' usual starting right fielder, delivered a pinch-hit, game-tying sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth and then hit a one-out, game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th to lift California Baptist University to a 6-5 non-conference win over Cal State Dominguez Hills Saturday afternoon.
The win is the Lancers' fourth straight and 13th in the past 15 games as they improve to 25-6 overall.
The Toros fall to 8-19.
In the 10th, with the game tied at 5-5, Blair Moore led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Andy Crowley. Kevin Odom was intentionally-walked, bringing up Esquerra, who laced an 0-1 pitch off reliever Brian Oda that took a high hop and caromed off Toro third-baseman Chris Vopinek and into left field.
Moore scored the winning run easily.
Oda had just entered the game in relief of Nick Plantz (1-3), who took the hard-luck loss after giving up five hits and two runs in 5.1 strong innings of relief for the Toros.
The Lancers wouldn't have even been in that position had it not been for Esquerra two innings earlier when he came off the bench with one out in the eighth, the Lancers trailing 5-4 and the bases loaded. He smacked a ball to deep center, bringing in Moore with the tying run from third.
Crowley was 3-for-4, and both Moore and Odom had two hits apiece.
The Lancers took a 4-3 lead in the fifth on an RBI single from Moore and kept it until there were two outs in the eighth. That's when Sako Chapjian connected on a two-run homer to left center off reliever Matt Daugherty to give the Toros their first lead of the day.
The Toros got the go-ahead run in scoring position with one out in the ninth, but Daugherty induced a flyout and then struck out pinch-hitter Chris Allen to end the inning. After giving up the homer, Daugherty retired seven of the last eight batters he faced, including each of the final six.
In all, Daugherty (2-1) tossed three innings of relief, striking out three and giving up just three hits and the two runs to get the win.
Devyn Rivera went seven solid innings, striking out seven while walking just one in the no-decision. Aside from the fifth when he allowed four singles and all three of his runs, Rivera was dominant across the other six innings, scattering just three other hits without allowing a run.
With the game scoreless in the third, Matt Marnati hit a two-out single on an 0-2 pitch to right center, and Daugherty followed with his second homer of the year, this one clearing the wall in left field.
Ryan Douglass made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
The Toros responded with four straight singles in the fifth and combined them with two wild pitches from Rivera, and when the dust had settled, the game was tied 3-3.
The Lancers finished with 11 hits, while the Toros had 10. Combined, Moore, Crowley and Odom, the Lancers' 5-6-7 hitters, were 7-for-11 with three runs.
