Biola’s baseball team broke a six-game losing streak in big fashion against nationally-ranked Cal Poly Pomona on Tuesday evening. The Eagles’ lineup laced 14 hits en route to an 11-3 victory over the Broncos. 

EAGLES SOAR FROM THE START 

Biola wasted no time manufacturing runs, bringing three runners home in the top of the first. With runners on base, right fielder Oscar Serratos blasted a two RBI double down the left field line. A wild pitch by the Broncos advanced Serratos to third, which allowed him to score on an RBI groundout off the bat of sophomore catcher Sam Lisiak. 

Eagles’ freshman starting pitcher Brandon McClean took advantage of the early run support by firing two shutout innings. McClean handed the ball over to sophomore lefty Andrew Zittel in the third, who followed suit with two scoreless frames of his own. 

BOOMING BIOLA BATS 

The Eagles added five more runs during the visitors’ half of the fourth inning. With the bases loaded and no outs, freshman center fielder Jonathan Smith slashed a two RBI double to left field. Singles from AJ Ortiz, Wyatt Duncan, Serratos, and Lisiak extended the rally and resulted in an 8-0 Biola lead. 

The silent Bronco bats made some noise in the bottom of fifth, responding to Biola’s breakout inning at the plate. A sacrifice fly from Nick Lugo followed by an RBI double from Bobby Hook put the Broncos on the board and erased the Eagle shutout. 

Cal Poly Pomona managed to push one more run across the plate in the sixth, after Biola countered with two more runs as a result of Bronco defensive errors and a hit by pitch. 

In the seventh, Duncan put his power on display with a towering home run to score Biola’s final run of the contest. 

Duncan’s long ball on Tuesday was his seventh this season, leading all Eagles hitters in the home run category by a wide margin. 

The Biola boys will continue PacWest conference play on Thursday against Fresno Pacific with the first pitch set for 11 a.m.