The men’s baseball team ended their whirlwind season on a high note in Rocklin, CA with two wins in their final series against William Jessup University. The Eagles finished with a 22-31 record and 16-26 in conference play.
A BLEAK START
The series against William Jessup started out bleak with the Eagles dropping the first game 2-4.
The Warriors were quick to get on the board early in the first inning to lead the Eagles 2-0. William Jessup’s Sam Anderson struck out Biola’s batters one after the other in both the first and second innings. The Eagles had an opportunity to score in the third inning when senior pitcher Rob Groschell advanced to third on an error, but the Eagle’s could not bring Groschell home to lessen the Warrior’s lead.
William Jessup went on to score twice more in the third inning to push their lead over Biola 4-0. The score remained unchanged until the seventh inning when the Eagles got their first run thanks to senior outfielder Paul Slater.
The Eagles scored one more run in the ninth inning, but could not come back from the Warriors early lead and finished the first game of the series with a loss of 4-2.
TURNING THE TABLES
Biola turned the tables against William Jessup the next day. The Eagles won both games in the doubleheader 5-1, 4-1.
The Eagles were the first to get on the board in the first inning, Slater took advantage of Tanner Swire stealing second and advanced to home on the throw to put the Eagles at 1-0. Then it was Swire’s turn to score when senior infielder Andy Smith flied out to centerfield to put the Eagles at 2-0.
William Jessup also got a run in the first inning, but could not tie up the score with Biola. The Eagles extended their lead to 3-1 in the third inning and added one more run in the fourth.
Both teams could not convert any more runs until the top of the ninth. Sophomore infielder Jeremy Barth singled to give the opportunity for junior Julian Jarrard to score and secure the Eagles’ win 5-1.
TURNING THEIR MOMENTUM
The Eagles continued their momentum into the second game of the day. Once again earning the first run of the game in the first inning, Andy Smith flied out to centerfield to bring Slater home.
The score remained the same until the fourth inning, when sophomore Sean McCarrel doubled to right field to open up the opportunity for Groeschell to score and put the score at 2-1. The Eagles scored two more in the fifth inning to bring the lead to 4-0. Jessup did score in the sixth inning to prevent Biola from ending their season in a shutout to end the game 4-1.
The Eagles end their season fifth in the Golden State Athletic Conference and will not continue to the conference championship tournament.
