Eagles beat Concordia
On Wednesday, March 30 the Eagles took on Concordia University at home and came away with an 8-5 victory. This improved Biola’s record to 19-10 and they have now won 10 of their last 11 conference games.
Concordia got out to a quick 3-0 lead on three straight singles and a hit batter. Biola answered with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame.
Sutherland led off the inning with a line drive up the middle. With one out, Fayard reached first on a fielder’s choice and Fages hit an RBI single to score Sutherland. Loard followed that up with another single to score Fayard and bring Biola within one run.
Concordia brought in another run in the second inning after a pick off attempt went wrong. Biola catcher, junior Mike Lopez threw the ball away and allowed the runner on third to score.
Biola dominates third inning
In the third inning Biola claimed the lead by scoring four runs. Fayard reached on a single and Loard walked, then Sullivan brought home Fayard with a single of his own. Senior Michael Andrews capped off this rally with his second home run of the year. He hit a big three-run shot off the scoreboard in right field.
Relief pitchers finish out the game
Starting pitcher, sophomore Nick Turner pitched seven solid innings before handing the game over to the bullpen. Relief pitchers, sophomore Jonathan Cade and McVey sealed the win for Biola by combining for the final two innings.
This win brought Biola’s record against GSAC opponents to 14-4, keeping them in first place in the conference, and improved their home record to 10-3.
Biola narrowly beats Vanguard
After a nine day break, the Biola University baseball team took the field against Vanguard University on Monday, March 28. The Eagles came away with a 9-8 win over the Lions and improved their record to 18-10 on the season.
Timely hitting from the Eagles and sloppy play on behalf of the Lions resulted in the Eagles coming back from an 8-7 deficit in the ninth inning.
Biola starts off strong
In the first inning, Biola took the lead when junior Boone Farrington led off with an infield hit and eventually came around to score on a single from junior Vinnie Fayard.
In the fourth inning Biola opened the game up by adding three more runs on four straight hits. Fayard kicked off the inning with a double down the left field line, his second hit in as many at bats. Junior Drake Fages singled, putting runners on the corners, and senior Brian Loard came through with a single to left. Junior Mac Sullivan singled to drive home a run and senior Josh Burket added one more with an RBI ground out.
Vanguard picked up two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Two walks and an error allowed one run to score and the second came off a single from Brandon Pesante.
In the fifth inning the Lions struck again. Jason Dovel hit a two-run home run to make it 5-4 in favor of Vanguard.
In the sixth, the Eagles came back and scored three more runs. With runners on first and second, sophomore Benji Sutherland singled to center to bring home Sullivan who scored the tying run. Sutherland, whose batting average has dropped recently to .250, went two for four in this game with an RBI and is beginning to regain his stroke.
“It gets really frustrating when you don’t play to your potential,” Sutherland said. “But lately I’ve been hitting the ball better than statistics show.”
Eagles load bases in sixth inning
Freshman Johnny Farrington plated Sutherland with a one-out RBI single that put the Eagles back in the lead. Fayard then walked with the bases loaded to make it a 7-5 game.
Vanguard came crawling back with three runs of their own in the seventh. The score sat at 8-7 until the ninth inning when the Eagles started a game winning rally.
Eagles pull out win in the ninth
Fages started the inning with a single and Loard was hit a by a pitch to put runners on first and second and bring the tying run into scoring position. Pinch hitter, freshman David McNeill advanced both runners with a sacrifice hit.
McNeill’s sacrifice went right back to the pitcher, who then attempted to throw Fages out at third, but the throw went down the left field foul line and allowed Fages to score the tying run. The left fielder misplayed the ball in the outfield and pinch runner sophomore Christian Kaiser scored the game-winning run.
Relief pitcher, senior Kyle Atkins picked up the win for Biola and improved to 3-2 on the year and junior Cameron McVey closed out the ninth inning for his fourth save.
Pitching was not a major factor in this game as Biola pulled out a back-and-forth win.
“Pitching was a little rusty for not seeing a live batter for nine days,” Sutherland said. “We had clutch hits with runners in scoring position.”
