Box Score
By Tim Slack
LA MIRADA, Calif. — Junior Hawkins Gebbers clubbed two home runs in the first two innings and senior pitcher Josh Baas threw eight shutout innings as Biola sailed past Westmont 12-1 in a GSAC game on Thursday afternoon at Eagles Diamond.
Biola improved to 30-12 overall and are now 20-10 in GSAC play while the Warriors fall to 8-29 on the season and 4-26 in conference action.
The Eagles jumped out in front of the Warriors in the first inning when Gebbers drove the second pitch he saw deep into left field for his tenth home run of the season.
He wasted little time giving an encore as he came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the second. Gebbers deposited the second pitch of that at bat of the left field fence for his fourth home run in two games.
The Eagles added three more in the third. After junior David West walked to start the inning, unior Chad Pace doubled off the top of the wall in left field putting runners on second and third with nobody out. Freshman Brent Opdyke plated West on a sacrifice fly before senior Matt McQueen drove in Pace with a single. McQueen came around to score three batters later when junior Nick Rokowitz singled up the middle.
Baas allowed a hit in each of the first innings, but took control of the game after that, only allowing two more hits through eight shutout innings of work while striking out seven. It was his first start in two weeks, since his outing in Point Loma on April 5. He picked up the win improving to 6-2 and lowering his GSAC-best ERA to 1.79.
Gebbers' grand slam in the second gave him three consecutive at-bats with home runs as he homered in his final at bat in the seventh inning on Wednesday. Gebbers' eleventh homer of the year was also his second grand slam in ten days after he blasted one to down California Baptist last week.
Prior to this year, three home runs in as many at bats had only been done once before by a Biola baseball player and that was Sam Orr during the 2003 season. However, Gebbers' was the second player this year to accomplish the feat after Pace hit three straight homers at Point Loma two weeks ago.
Biola returns to action with a doubleheader on Saturday (Apr. 19) in Irvine against Concordia with the first game set to start at Noon.
