BOX SCORE
LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Jimmy Johnson allowed one run on seven hits over eight innings and the Biola bats again pounded the best pitching staff in the GSAC as the Eagles defeated No. 15 Point Loma Nazarene 9-1 on Thursday afternoon on Eagles Diamond.
Biola improves to 27-21 on the season and 18-16 in the GSAC while the Sea Lions move to 27-16 and 21-13 in conference.
The win also helped Biola clinch a spot in the NAIA Region II Playoffs for the fifth straight season. The Eagles are currently fifth in the GSAC standings and could finish in a tie for fourth place should Concordia drop its final two games at San Diego Christian and Biola sweep Fresno Pacific on Saturday.
Johnson continued his dominance over Point Loma with his second strong showing of the season against the Sea Lions. Earlier this season, Johnson threw a three-hitter, allowing just one run with nine strikeouts while tossing a complete game. This time, he allowed a few more hits, but walked away with another victory, this time striking out 10. Johnson threw 100 pitchers, 76 of them strikes and improves to 7-3 on the year.
He did get a lot of help from the offense, though, as the Eagles scored nine runs on 12 hits against the best pitching staff in the conference. The Biola hit parade rolled up seven runs on Point Loma starter Tony Kirbis, who entered the day with the GSAC's best ERA. However, he surrendered seven earned runs on eight hits in just 2-1/3 innings.
Biola got on the board early with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Kris Cook hit a two-out double to the left-centerfield gap and scored on a single through the left side of the infield by Hawkins Gebbers.
The Eagles broke the game open in the third as they batted around and scored six runs. The inning started with Bobby Slater and Cook being hit by pitches, followed by a single to left by Gebbers to load the bases. David West followed with a single to left to plate a run and Matt McQueen also hit a run-scoring single to make it 3-0.
After a bassed ball scored another run for the Eagles, Nick Dietzen was walked to reload the bases. With a 3-2 count on Nelson, Kirbis was called for a balk to make the score 5-0. After getting a strikeout, Biola's Danny Morrow hit a grounder to short and it looked like McQueen, who went on contact, would be a sitting duck at home. However, after getting in two seperate rundowns, McQueen was able to safely return to first and Dietzen was somehow able to get back to second as everyone was safe on the play.
Chris Foreman then followed with a run-scoring single and Slater plated another with a ground out to cap the scoring.
West capped off a perfect 3-for-3 day with a home run to right field to make it 8-1. Facing a 3-2 count, and fighting off pitch after pitch, West blasted a shot down the right-field line which twisted foul. After shaking off a couple of signs from his catcher, Point Loma pitcher Adam Herter tried to beat West with a fastball which the Biola rightfielder deposited neatly over the right field fence.
The Eagles scored their final run in the seventh inning as Cook picked up an RBI the hard way, getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Today's games marked the final home games for seven Biola seniors. They are Josh Baas, Nick Dietzen, Jason Gonzalez, Greg Matson, Alex Miranda, Tim Wells and Jon Young.
Biola closes out the regular season with a GSAC doubleheader at Fresno Pacific University on Saturday (Apr. 28) at 11:00 a.m. The NAIA Region II tournament playoffs open on Friday, May 4.
