Eagles baseball opened their 2020 season with a doubleheader against California State University, Monterey Bay on Jan. 31. Biola’s energy made the afternoon fly by when BU secured the first victory over Monterey Bay, 8-3. The second game was left unfinished and resumed play on Saturday morning to complete the match at 6-3 before yet another full game between the two teams.

 “We told the guys we wanted them to play with relentless energy and really attack the game,” said head coach Jeff Calhoon. “The big thing going into this weekend was [for] hitters to be on time with the fast balls, obviously pitchers were trying to attack hitters really well, and trying to limit free bases and play clean defense.”

EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM

Pitching for the Eagles in an excellent performance was sophomore Larson Kindreich, who threw six shut-out innings. Things were slow until junior catcher Ben Smith hit an RBI, bringing junior infielder Connor Kostecka across the plate in the bottom of the second inning.

In the third, junior infielder RobertAnthony Cruz hit a double into left field, only to steal third for his teammate senior infielder Jacob Portaro, who hit a double for an RBI that sent Cruz home. In the bottom of the fourth, the Eagles turned up the heat after junior outfielder Brandon Cody was hit off of a pitch and walked to first. Sophomore outfielder Tyler Baca hit a double to right field and Cody crossed home plate. Cruz bounced off the scoring energy and hit a home run on his first swing at bat.

The Eagles found themselves up 6-0 after redshirt senior infielder Jacob Portaro brought home a run. After a scoreless sixth inning, the Eagles finally faced conflict in the seventh. Monterey Bay managed to score two runs and an RBI in the top of the seventh that brought the score to 6-2. Going into the bottom half, Portaro hit a single and proceeded to steal two bases. Third base was loaded, and junior first baseman Jackson Collins hit a homer and an RBI to score for the Eagles. CSU Monterey Bay was unable to bounce back, despite scoring one more run in the top of the eighth. BU secured their first win of the season, 8-3.

 “We didn’t know what to expect,” Cruz said. “We’ve been preparing for a while now, hitting is one of those things where one day you have it, one day you won’t. This first game, I was seeing a lot of good pitches to hit and I was grateful that I capitalized [on] it.” 

TO BE CONTINUED…

Monterey Bay and Biola both remained scoreless for the first few innings in their second round of competition. It wasn’t until the fourth inning that the energy began to pick up. Baca and Cruz were both hit by Monterey’s pitcher and walked. Junior utility player Ryan Gallegos hit an RBI to send Baca home. Three more runs were scored, one each by Cruz, Gallegos and Portaro, to put the Eagles up 4-0.

Both teams cooled off during the fifth and sixth inning, the Eagles scoring only one run. Monterey Bay scored three runs in the seventh inning, trying to make a comeback push. However, the Eagles found home base one more time to make the score 6-3. The game was put on hold after sunset and was played out on Saturday morning.

The final inning was more of a formality. CSU Monterey Bay could not find a way to score and gave the Eagles their second victory, 6-3.

The Eagles (2-0) will continue play today at 12 p.m. in their final matchup against CSU.