The Biola Eagles’ baseball team finished up the series against the Arizona Christian Firestorm with a loss and a win in the doubleheader on Saturday, giving them the 2-1 series victory when combined with their win on Friday. This marks the first time this season the Eagles have won a weekend series and though not the cleanest, they look to keep improving.
“The team did what they needed to do to win the series today,” said head coach Jay Sullenger. “It wasn’t as pretty at times as we would have liked, but it’s good to come away from a weekend with a series win.”
The first game of the doubleheader turned out to be the ugly one for the Eagles, and could not get an offense going. Compared to Friday’s red hot offense, the first game on Saturday for the Eagles seemed ice cold. They went from 15 hits down to only five and scored zero runs as opposed to Friday’s 11. The Firestorm’s pitcher, Joel Klinkhammer, shut down the Eagles hitters, throwing five strikeouts in six innings.
“He was kind of a unique pitcher, almost like a knuckleballer,” said Sullenger. “Unfortunately, even though it was something we talked about before the game, we weren’t able to make the adjustment.”
The Eagles started junior Eric Diomartich on the pitching mound, coming in with a record of 0-4 on the season. He had another poor outing, giving up six runs off seven hits while only pitching four complete innings. Sophomore Sean McCarrell replaced him in the fifth, then gave up the remaining two runs. Junior Sean Rothfuss took over in the top of the eighth and was able to stop the bleeding. The game ended 8-0.
The Eagles improved in the second game of the day, going on to win 2-0. The pitching game increased dramatically, as freshman Micah Beyer took the mound for the Eagles. He pitched 5.2 innings, only allowing two hits, no runs and getting six strikeouts. Sophomore Jimmy Gallarda got the save as he allowed one hit in the four batters he faced, but forced a groundout and two strikeouts to end the game.
On the offensive side, junior Julian Jarrard scored the only earned run of the game, hitting a sacrifice fly to left field that brought home senior Paul Slater. Sophomore Jeremy Barth accounted for the second run after a hit from Gallarda moved him to third base, then a wild throw by the second baseman brought him home. The Firestorm could not garner any offense to make up the gap and the game ended 2-0.
Both teams remain equal in conference record at 4-11, and Biola stays in fifth place in Golden State Athletic Conference rankings. The Eagles’ next game is against the Bethesda College Flames in a non-conference game at Eagles Diamond on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
