Junior catcher Brandon Gildea’s one-out RBI double put the cap on a two-run Westmont College comeback, handing Biola baseball their second Golden State Athletic Conference loss, 3-2.
The loss drops Biola to 6-2 overall, 2-2 in conference play.
The Warriors forced extra innings in the eighth when senior first baseman Thomas Hocutt homered, tying the game at two apiece before winning it in the 10th.
Eagles’ scoreless innings streak ends at 23
Having kept GSAC opponents off the board for the previous 19 innings, Biola’s pitching staff entered Friday afternoon’s game with a chance to extend their impressive streak with redshirt freshman Trevor Oaks on the mound.
Oaks shut out Westmont for the first four innings, but after walking the first three batters in the fifth, a one-out single from junior outfielder J.J. Turbin plated a run to end the streak at 23 innings.
“I’m always thinking about what I need to do in order to throw strikes,” Oaks said, “how I’m going to get these batters out.”
Oaks, who rehabbed from Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm in 2012, has thrown plenty of strikes in his first two outings. The right-hander had piled up a team-leading 16 strikeouts in 12 innings heading into today’s matchup with the Warriors, but managed just two today while walking four.
“Honestly I thought they were pretty good contact hitters,” Oaks said of the Westmont batters, who struck for 11 hits. “They didn’t chase and that forced me to throw a lot of changeups.
“Next outing, I’d like to get ahead of the batter more,” he said.
Eight out of Oaks’s 16 strikeouts heading into today’s came when the righty opened up the at-bat with a strike, while five of his six walks came when he opened with a ball out of the strike zone.
“I was happy with the way I threw today, and I would like to take a couple of those walks away, but the only thing I can do now is prepare for my next start and give my team everything I have,” he said.
Two-run third gives Eagles early lead
A pair of RBI singles from senior center fielder Benji Sutherland and freshman catcher Sam Thorne provided Biola’s only runs, giving them an early 2-0 lead before squandering it in the late innings.
Junior second baseman Michael Annunziata had a three-hit game, his second of the year, while sophomore outfielder Paul Slater had two hits to up his average to .467.
Biola left 12 runners on base, including a crucial three in the sixth when Westmont freshman Michael Wishwain coaxed back-to-back strikeouts from Sutherland and junior shortstop Johnny Farrington to get out of a bases-loaded jam.
Tomorrow’s doubleheader in Santa Barbara will end a three-game series and will start at 11AM, featuring senior right-hander Nick Turner in game one and true freshman right-hander Josh Staumont in game 2.
