Coach John Verhoeven inserted a much-needed piece of the Biola baseball puzzle into the lineup in game two of Thursday’s doubleheader at California State University San Marcos, providing the Eagles with both a powerful bat at the plate and a quick glove at the hot corner.

That piece is senior third baseman Drake Fages, who was excited to get back into the lineup.

“It was fun. I wasn’t really worried about it hurting,” Fages said, referring to the soreness in his right wrist. “I feel like it’s going to hurt and it’s going to be funky, but adrenaline kind of takes over.”

Before he could make his way back out onto the diamond, Fages sat on the bench as the Eagles defeated San Marcos 8-5 in game one.

Grijalva pitches Biola past San Marcos in game one

Backed by a solid outing from junior starting pitcher Jeff Grijalva, Biola took an early 2-1 lead in the second inning thanks to back-to-back RBI singles from senior catcher Mike Lopez and shortstop, sophomore Johnny Farrington.

Grijalva, who was coming off a complete game last week against Vanguard University, went seven innings while giving up three earned runs on five hits. He improved his record to 4-2 on the season and has won his last three games.

Senior Vinnie Fayard continued to produce for the Biola offense, going 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs in the win. Senior Dustin Williams also added a pair of RBIs for the Eagles.

Fages returns, but Eagles fall in game two

Game two featured Drake Fages back in the lineup, where he played his usual position at third base. Despite the hype and excitement of his return, the Eagles were ousted 3-2 as San Marcos scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth to salvage the doubleheader split.

Junior starting pitcher Chris Baek threw all six innings for Biola, giving up three runs, two of them earned, on only four hits.

Junior James Petrilli brought in the tying run in the top of the sixth by grounding into a fielders choice, but the Cougars took the lead right back in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI triple off the bat of first baseman Kenny Belzer.

Fages went 1-for-1 with a single and two walks in his return to the lineup card.

The loss dropped the Eagles overall record to below .500 once again, falling to 13-14.