The Eagles baseball team played their first GSAC home opener against the Vanguard Lions on Wednesday. Unfortunately, darkness in the bottom of the 9th inning prevented the Eagles from any comeback victory against their opponent’s 6-5 lead.
The Eagles jumped ahead early, however their run would soon be matched by a two-run homerun in the second inning by the Lions leftfielder junior Nicholas Akins. The following inning, the Lions tallied up another two runs to put them in the lead, 4-1.
The Eagles struck back in the fourth inning, taking advantage of the Lions tired pitching. Junior catcher Daniel Bodemer came through with bases loaded and picked up a run with his much-needed single.
Senior centerfielder Chris Foreman followed Bodemer by driving in a run as well. In the same inning, third baseman senior Brent Chavez, tied up the game 4-4 with a sacrifice fly to deep left field.
The Eagles’ pitching regained confidence and held the Lions scoreless. Freshman Vinny Fayard decided to step up and hit a line drive shot over left field fence at the bottom of the 5th inning to put the Eagles on top again. This was Fayard’s first collegiate homerun, but the Lions still fought back and added two more runs at the end making the score 6-5.
One thing the coach might not have is a go-to arm in the bull pen The game took awhile to reach the final inning due to the Eagles’ head coach John Verhoeven seven pitching changes. Starting pitcher sophomore Bobby O’Neill was taken out of the game at the top of the 5th inning, and senior Charlie Gausepohl followed him to finish it off.
Verhoeven’s team was not allowed to bat in the ninth because of the loss of sunlight. The game was called off and postponed for a later time to be announced. They will pick up were they left off at Eagles Diamond on March 26.
The team has played six official games, already gaining them a surprising 1-6 losing record, the worst start of their season since 1984, even though they were ranked fourth in the preseason poll.
The Eagles have another chance to rebound their overall record against their next non-conference opponent Cal State Dominguez Hills on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 2 p.m.
