Stellar pitching and powerful offense led to the Eagles’ crucial series win over the Menlo College Oaks. With the season winding down, Biola moved up in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings after winning two games against the Oaks.

Diomartich's dominant outing

“We played them earlier in the season and they have a lot of power numbers offensively,” said JD Meyer, junior second baseman. “We played really well against them last time, so we weren’t too concerned coming into this series.”

Despite senior starting pitcher Eric Diomartich’s dominant outing, the Oaks rallied in the last inning of the series opener. It only took six walks and one hit for Menlo to score five runs in the top of the ninth and take the lead. After the Eagles went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, Biola dropped the first game of the series 7-8.

Although the second game of the series remained neck-and-neck early on, Biola’s offense supported junior starting pitcher Jimmy Gallarda’s rocky outing as the Eagles shot ahead with a massive sixth inning. Tied at seven, the Eagles doubled their number of runs by scoring seven in the bottom of the sixth and took a commanding lead over the Oaks. A seven-run lead was plenty for sophomore right-handed pitcher Daniel Jang as he closed out the Eagles’ 14-10 victory.

Rubber match victory

The Eagles wrapped up their series with a rubber match game against Menlo. Discipline at the plate allowed the Eagles to cash in on Menlo’s sporadic pitching and brought in their first two runs off bases-loaded walks. Although the Eagles later scored two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth, one run would have been enough for sophomore starting pitcher Micah Beyer, who led the Eagles to a 4-0 victory.

“We moved into third place by taking this series so it’s huge,” said Andres Rodriguez, senior third baseman.

Both juniors rightfielder Jeremy Barth and catcher Sam Thorne had seven hits in the series. Barth, who ended 7-11 with six RBIs and two runs, went 4-4 in game two of the series with four singles. Leading the Eagles with his .365 batting average, Thorne went 7-13 in the series and hit a home run in games one and two. With a total of five this season, Thorne is tied with Meyer for second most home runs on the team.

Closing in on playoffs

With two conference matchups left in the season, the race for the four playoff spots are heating up. Biola is currently tied with The Master’s College for third place, followed closely by Menlo. Beating Menlo lifted the Eagles two games into the top four, however, the two teams standing in their way are conference leading Vanguard University and Westmont College. After being swept by both teams earlier in the season, advancing into the playoffs would require the Eagles to win at least two over the next two matchups.

“We need to put teams away,” Barth said. “When we’re ahead of a team we can’t give them a chance to comeback.”

With a chance to beat Westmont for the first time this season, the Eagles hit the road to face the Warriors on Friday, April 22 at 3 p.m.