Sharing their doubleheader split with the Hope International University Royals at Eagles Diamond, the Biola baseball team remained one game out of third place in the Golden State Athletic Conference. Although the Eagles’ bats fell silent in their 7-0 loss in the first game, they reignited to take game two 6-2.
After taking the lead in the second inning of game one, the Royals capitalized on three errors committed by Biola in the fourth to take a 2-0 lead. Hope International continued to add to their lead with three runs in the eighth and a two-run homer in the ninth.
“We came out in the first game and did not play well in any of the three phases of the game,” said senior catcher Sam Thorne. “Sometimes you’re just going to have bad games and we had that. But, we’re confident that we’re a pretty good team. We just need to respond and not put too much pressure on ourselves.”
The second game appeared to follow suit as the Royals opened up the scoring with a solo home run in the third. However, the Eagles scored their first runs of the doubleheader to take a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the same inning.
Senior left fielder Jeremy Barth hit doubled in the game-tying run and eventually scored the go-ahead run on a balk. Before the end of the inning, junior shortstop Ricky Perez hit an RBI double.
Three innings later, senior starting pitcher Jimmy Gallarda sparked a rally with a pinch-hit RBI single in the sixth. His first plate appearance of the season opened the door for junior first baseman Colton Worthington to single in a run and Biola to score on a bases-loaded walk.
The Eagles saw junior starting pitchers Micah Beyer and Wyatt Haccou tie their season-high number of strikeouts. Despite receiving the loss for the first game, Beyer struck out 11 batters and maintained his lead for the most strikeouts in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, with 76.
Likewise, Haccou retired seven batters on strikes in his 5.1 innings of work in the second game. He struck out the same number of batters in his last start on March 18.
The Eagles travel to the University of Antelope Valley for a non-conference doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 28.
