Biola baseball was outscored by 15 runs in Saturday afternoon’s doubleheader, suffering a sweep at the hands of Concordia University Irvine— 13-2 and 4-0.

Freshman starting pitcher Josh Staumont — who entered today’s outing with a perfect 3-0 record — lost his first start of the year, while game two starter Nick Turner lost his second consecutive start after beginning the year winning three straight.

Biola has now lost four consecutive games and drops below .500 in the Golden State Athletic Conference for the first time in 2013 to a record of 5-7. The team’s four-game skid is just the second time since 2010 that Biola has lost four or more consecutive games.

“It’s heartbreaking, but it’s also baseball,” Turner said. “We have a lot of games left and I’m not worried because this team is capable of much more than we’ve shown.” 

Staumont gives up two five-run innings

Coming off a near complete-game performance last Saturday at home against rival Azusa Pacific University, Staumont struggled right out of the gate in game one giving up five runs on six hits in the first inning. He then retired the next six batters before surrendering another five-spot to Concordia in the fourth — an inning he never finished.

“You can’t say you had a good game after allowing them to beat us that badly but I do feel that they executed when they needed to,” Staumont said. “That combined with multiple mistakes on my part and throwing away pitches and overthrows on little plays caused the gap from which we couldn’t battle back.”

Biola battled early, scoring two runs in the third and fourth inning before Concordia’s second five-spot broke the game wide open.

Staumont gave up 10 runs on 10 hits in just 3.2 innings, suffering his first loss of the year. The freshman right-hander entered today’s shelling having allowed only eight runs in his first five starts.

Holm, Ofelt power Concordia offense

Concordia’s 13-run output was fueled by right fielder Ty Holm and second baseman Spencer Ofelt who each recorded two hits and three RBIs in game one. Ofelt’s two-run single in the first got the scoring parade started while Holm’s two-run triple put Concordia up six in the fourth.

“Even though these guys got to Trevor [Oaks] and me, I was confident that the stuff I had was my best effort being put forth,” Staumont said.

Concordia has won eight of its last nine games, outscoring opponents 58-21 in the process.

Turner losses second straight start

Eight days after one of his worst outings of his career, Turner lasted the entirety of game two, giving up four runs in six innings.

“I felt better out there because I had more rest and I decided not to throw right down the middle this time,” Turner said.

Turner’s 7-2 loss to Azusa Pacific last Friday came on just four days rest. Typically Biola’s starting rotation receives six days rest between starts.

The senior allowed eight hits and struck out four while walking none. His record falls to 3-2.

Biola shut out in game two by Concordia’s Quintana

Concordia right-hander Adam Quintana won his fourth start of the season in a complete-game shutout performance in game two, limiting Biola to seven hits while striking out four. Quintana piggybacked on fellow righty Chris Garrison’s eight-inning game one effort as the two combined to throw 16 plus innings and allow just two Biola baserunners across home plate.

Of Biola’s 14 hits today, junior shortstop Johnny Farrington collected four of them, going 2-for-4 in both games. He has eight hits in his last 21 at-bats, upping his season average from .208 to .261 over the span.

Biola will play Whittier College at home in a non-conference game on Tuesday at 2 p.m. before hosting a three-game conference series with Vanguard University on Friday. Staumont will likely replace fellow freshman Trevor Oaks as the number-one starter in head coach John Verhoeven’s rotation and get the start in the series opener.