Just days after arriving in Florida for the NAIA National Championship Opening Round, Biola lost their first two games, ending their season and hopes for a trip to the NAIA World Series.

The Eagles fell 6-3 to Auburn University-Montgomery on Thursday and 9-8 to Southern Poly State University on Friday, finishing the season below .500 for the first time since 1995 with an overall record of 26-29.

Ninth inning collapse costs Eagles

Biola had Friday’s elimination game against Southern Poly all but wrapped up as they took a 7-4 lead into the ninth inning where just three outs would have kept the Eagles alive, advancing them to face Siena Heights University later that night.

But a costly error and a poorly pitched ninth led to a five-run inning, with sophomore center fielder Chris Dykes’ two-out, two-run single giving the Hornets their first lead since the first inning.

“The game was just brutal,” junior right-hander Nick Turner said.

Head coach John Verhoeven elected to send junior right-hander Chris Baek back out to pitch the ninth despite throwing more than 100 pitches in his first eight innings, where he gave up four runs on seven hits and four walks. Baek was relieved by junior reliever J.T. Mickelson after surrendering back-to-back singles to start the inning, which preceded two more singles and two walks en route to Mickelson’s second blown save of the year.

“I guess you trust your pitcher who’s thrown so well all year and who had settled down in the last few innings,” junior center fielder Benji Sutherland said of Baek. “In hindsight, though, I wish we had pulled him.”

Prior to Southern Poly’s two singles to start the ninth, Baek had retired 15 of the last 18 batters.

He finished the afternoon with 139 pitches, the most he had thrown all season.

A fielding error by senior second baseman Vinnie Fayard let the fourth of the first five Southern Poly batters reach base before Dykes struck two batters later. All runs charged to Mickelson were unearned because of the error.

“We definitely had some wind taken out of our sails after being one pitch away from winning,” Sutherland said, “but we knew we had the ability to score two runs and were optimistic we could do it again.”

Comeback attempt comes up short against Poly

The Eagles were resilient in that comeback attempt, pushing a run across after junior catcher Wes Cottier doubled home sophomore outfielder Michael Annunziata, who singled up the middle a batter earlier. And after sophomore outfielder Sage Polland fouled out pinch-hitting for freshman outfielder Paul Slater, Sutherland drew a five-pitch walk, representing the go-ahead run on first.

Sophomore shortstop Johnny Farrington had a chance with two outs to keep the comeback alive, but after drawing a quick 3-0 count, Southern Poly pitcher Kevin Bibler forced the count full before getting Farrington to ground out to second.

The Eagles managed 15 hits off Southern Poly pitching, with five batters recording multi-hit games, yet managed only eight runs and left twelve men on base.

Fayard and fellow senior, third baseman Drake Fages, both notched three-hit games in their final collegiate ballgame, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and 3-for-5 with two RBIs, respectively.

Eagles fall behind early against Montgomery

Thursday’s opener against Auburn-Montgomery had the Eagles down in an early 3-0 hole, eventually losing 6-3 despite a three-run rally in the ninth.

Turner, Biola’s starter against the Warhawks, was an on-target throw to first base away from escaping the first inning with just one run surrendered. He struck out Warhawk left fielder Rusty Todd on a pitch in the dirt, forcing senior catcher Mike Lopez to throw down to first to complete the out. But Lopez threw wide, allowing a run to score on the play and extending the inning.

The next batter doubled, scoring Todd from first to complete a three-run first.

Auburn-Montgomery scored one in the fifth and two in the seventh with all runs charged to Turner, who suffered his sixth loss of the year. He threw 116 pitches in six and two-thirds innings, giving up five earned runs on 11 hits.

“I felt I pitched well. Auburn was a good team and they weren’t easy outs,” Turner said. “There’s something in the water down in Alabama … they know how to hit.”

Biola rally falls short against Auburn-Montgomery

Following a pair of Biola runs in the ninth, senior designated hitter Nick Covyeau had a chance with no outs and the bases loaded to tie the game with one swing of the bat. He grounded into a double play, scoring the runner from third and after Annunziata walked to put runners at the corners, Lopez struck out swinging to end the game.

“Losing that game was rough … it just came out of nowhere,” Turner said of Friday’s game. “I felt for J.T. [Mickelson] and the rest of the players. We played hard but timely errors cost us the game.

“We made a great run,” he said. “No one expected two and barbeque but we got a free trip to Florida.”

This was the third time in the past four years Biola has reached the opening round of the NAIA Tournament, reaching in 2009 and 2011. They’ve gone 3-6 in NAIA games over that span.

Biola was one win away from an NAIA World Series berth in 2011, losing to Oklahoma Baptist University for the second time in the playoffs to be eliminated.