BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO --- Biola jumped out to an early lead, then held on for a much-needed victory, downing San Francisco State 4-3 in a non-conference game Monday afternoon at Maloney Field.

The Eagles snap a three-game losing streak with the win and improve to 22-16 on the season. The Gators fall to 6-31 with the loss.

Biola struck first with a run in the second as freshman catcher Daniel Bodemer drove home Scott Nelson with a single after Nelson reached on a one-out walk.

In the second, the Eagles picked up two more runs as sophomore Hawkins Gebbers had an RBI-double to right center, then scored on another double by Danny Morrow.

Biola picked up its fourth run in the fifth, taking advantage of a dropped fly ball on a sacrifice fly by Gebbers to score Bobby Slater.

Derek Dietzen, who picked up the win to improve to 5-2 on the season, had been cruising along through the first five before running into trouble in the sixth. Dietzen walked the leadoff batter, hit the next batter and then loaded the bases with his fourth walk of the game.

Justin Rodriguez then came in to replace him, but hit the next batter to force in the game's first run. David Phillips then drove in two more with a single down the leftfield line to make it 4-3. After a sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third with only one down, Jordan Litle was called upon to relieve Rodriguez. Litle struck out Ryan Richardson, the coaxed a fly ball to right off the bat of Tim Sunderland to end the threat.

In the ninth, the Eagles had to hold on again as the Gators loaded the bases with two outs of Biola closer Greg Matson. Matson issued back-to-back walks with one out in the frame but got Matt Edgecombe to fly out for the second out. After hitting Larry Lewis with the next pitch to load the bases, he was finally able to end the game as Evan Romanchuk flew out to left.

For Matson, it was his third save of the season. Litle, who has missed a lot of time due to injury this season, was strong in his 2-1/3 innings of relief, ending the threat in the sixth and retiring seven of the eight batters he faced.

Kenneth Salyer picked up the loss for San Francisco State, falling to 0-1 on the season. Salyor allowed all four runs on five hits in 4-1/3 innings, striking out five but walking four.

Matt Smith had a pair of hits to lead the Eagles on the day, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Gebbers was 1-for-3 on the afternoon with a double and two RBI.

The Eagles return to action on Tuesday (Apr. 10) for an exhibition contest against UC Santa Cruz at 7:00 p.m.