Just a day after scoring nine runs on 13 hits, Biola baseball’s offense fell into a lull — a lull that resulted in the team’s second consecutive doubleheader sweep. Arizona Christian University took advantage of the lack of timely hitting, beating the Eagles on Thursday 3-2 and 3-0.
Biola has lost five of their last seven games and drops to 12-15 in Golden State Athletic Conference play.
Freshman starters Josh Staumont and Trevor Oaks pitched well but received little run support, leading to their fifth loss in each of their last six starts.
“I don’t become frustrated with this because there’s no point in getting upset about something I have no control over,” Staumont said.
Staumont was dominant on the mound for the majority of the day, starting game one for the Eagles and setting a career-high with 11 strikeouts. The right-hander only allowed five hits in 7.1 innings, but plunked two batters and walked four — one of which scored.
“I felt more comfortable today but I still had control issues,” he said.
Oaks took the mound in game two and proved to be much improved from his previous outings. He allowed less than three earned runs for the first time since Feb. 1 in a no-decision at Westmont College, surrendering just one earned run on six hits.
But the Eagles were shut out by Firestorm senior righty Stephen Thompson — the Eagles’ first blanking since a 4-0 loss to Concordia University Irvine on Feb. 23. Thompson held Biola to five hits, striking out four and walking none.
“It was a frustrating day for both games,” Oaks said. “I didn’t feel like my stuff was as good as last game, but the results were better.”
In his previous five outings, Oaks allowed an average of 8.2 hits and 4.6 earned runs.
Offense stumbles, scores three runs in 16 innings
Biola’s top four hitters in the order — who went a combined 8-for-18 (.444) in Wednesday’s win — struggled mightily at the plate on Thursday, going 6-for-31 (.193) in the losses. With senior center fielder Benji Sutherland accounting for four of those six hits, the remaining three players connected for just two hits in 23 at-bats.
Freshman catcher Sam Thorne was held hitless in seven at-bats after going 8-for-11 over the previous four games. Sophomore right fielder Paul Slater is now just two for his last 18 after Thursday’s 0-for-8 performance.
“It’s just baseball,” Sutherland said. “The difference is that we didn’t have clutch hits or plays when we needed them today.”
The Eagles left 14 runners stranded, including ten in game one.
Biola will now play five consecutive non-conference games, starting with a home matchup with California State University, San Marcos next Tuesday, followed by a four-game set at Simpson University beginning on Thursday in Redding.
