Junior Jonathan Cade delivers a pitch on Saturday, March 3. Cade threw 4.2 innings in relief, allowing only two unearned runs. | Tyler Otte/THE CHIMES

Coming off a back-to-back road wins over Westmont College on Thursday and Friday, Biola looked for a possible sweep as they returned home for Saturday’s doubleheader against the Warriors.

However, the Eagles ran into the 6-foot, 8-inch Timothy Leary, both on the mound and at the plate.

Westmont’s Leary has a big day from the mound and the plate

Leary, who when he’s not pitching plays first base or designated hitter, pitched game one of the doubleheader and had his best outing of the year, going 7.2 innings giving up four runs, leading Westmont to a 14-6 victory in game one.

“I was just throwing strikes, both with my fastball and cutter,” Leary said, who registered his first win of the year. “They’d hit groundballs and we’d get outs.”

Those groundball outs usually came with multiple runners on the bags, as the Eagles left 15 men on base.

At the plate, Leary went 6-for-8 over the course of both games, hitting three home runs and driving in nine runs.

Turner struggles, lasts just 3.1 innings

Junior Nick Turner, the game one starting pitcher for the Eagles, took the brunt of Leary’s power as he surrendered three of his six hits, including two home runs. Turner lasted 3.1 innings, giving up seven runs on 12 hits before being replaced by junior Jonathan Cade.

“There were runners on when I gave up a home run,” Turner said. “A really big part about baseball is not giving up runs, and I wasn’t able to do that today.”

Turner sits at 1-2 on the year and has surrendered 13 earned runs in his last two outings.

“I played emotional today and I never usually do that, which is really frustrating,” he said, “but it’s not important how you react during the game but how you act after you’re done. Just bounce back and play again.”

The Eagles hoped to bounce back in game two with senior Kevin Ryan on the bump, but once again a lack of timely hitting and the inability to contain the heart of Westmont’s lineup contributed to an 8-6 defeat.

The Warriors’ 4-5-6 hitters combined for seven of team’s nine hits and seven of the team’s eight runs, including right fielder Coby Cress who went 4-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.

“We work so hard on every fundamental of the game, but the one thing you can’t really work on is timely hitting,” senior Vinnie Fayard said. “That’s how you win games and we just aren’t doing it right now.”

Covyeau and Annunziata are bright spots in loss

The Eagles attempted a comeback in the seventh inning, ignited by a two-run homer off the bat of senior Nick Covyeau to cut Westmont’s lead to two, but were retired a batter later.

Sophomore right fielder Michael Annunziata had solid game at the plate for the Eagles, going 5-for-7 over the span of the two games, though he never crossed home plate, exemplifying the team’s struggles with runners in scoring position.

“It just needs to happen and when it does, we will be better.” Fayard said.

The Eagles are now 3-5 in Golden State Athletic Conference play and will look to better that record starting next Thursday, March 8, when they host Vanguard University.