BOX SCORE
LA MIRADA, Calif. — Junior David West went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs to help lead Biola to a 12-8 win over Vanguard University in a Golden State Athletic Conference game on Wednesday afternoon at Eagles Diamond in La Mirada.
The Eagles, who moved to No. 13 in the latest NAIA National Rankings released on Wednesday, continued their red-hot play with the win to improve to 23-9 on the season and 14-7 in GSAC play. Biola has now won nine of its last 10 games and are 1-0 in April after going 13-3 in March. Vanguard drops to 15-18 overall and 6-15 in conference action.
Biola pounded out a total of 16 hits in the game with West and senior Matt McQueen each recording three hits. Meanwhile, the Lions gave Biola a run for its money with 14 hits of their own.
The Eagles jumped out to an early lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. Chris Foreman opened the game with a walk, stole second, reached third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, Kris Cook singled, stole second and scored on an RBI-single by McQueen.
After that, the two teams engaged in a bit of a pitcher's dual for the next four innings. But the slugfest began in the top of the fifth inning as Vanguard touched up Biola starter Brian Albert for three runs on six singles in the top of the fifth. However, Albert worked out of the inning with a bases-loaded strikeout to keep things close.
The Eagles then responded with five runs in the bottom of the fifth. Foreman again led off the inning and reached after being hit by a pitch. Nick Rotkowitz then doubled Foreman home on the first pitch he saw to tie the game at 3-3. Hawkins Gebbers then singled home Rotkowitz to make it 4-3 and reached third on a wild pitch. Cook then hit what should have been a sacrifice fly that was dropped by the leftfielder, then scored on a single by Brent Chavez. West capped the scoring with a double to left to make it 7-3.
Biola added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Foreman led the inning off with a walk followed by a single by Rotkowitz. Cook drove home Foreman with a single up the middle and Rotkowitz scored on a passed ball the next at bat. Cook then came around to score on a single to left by McQueen making it 10-3 Biola.
But Vanguard came back with three runs in the seventh and added two more in the eighth to make it 10-8. Biola closer Tim Nolan was called upon with runners at second and third and no outs in the eighth inning. He allowed a run to score on a groundout, then another came in on a wild pitch but he got out of the inning with a pair of flyouts.
Biola scored two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth on a doubles by Chavez and West and an RBI-single by pinch hitter Brent Opdyke to make it 12-8. Nolan then came back in and got three quick outs to end the game and pick up his third save of the season. His cause was helped by an absolutely incredible diving catch by Rotkowitz at short for the first out of the inning as he dove to his left and snared a line drive headed up the middle.
Albert earned the victory despite allowing six runs and 12 hits over 6-1/3 innings. He improves to 5-3 on the season. Vanguard starter Michael Anderson suffered the loss, giving up seven runs–five earned–on nine hits over five innings to drop to 1-2 overall.
Biola's offense has just been red-hot over the last five games, scoring 68 runs on 85 hits in the last 40 innings translating into an average of 1.7 runs and 2.2 hits per inning.
Gebbers extended his hitting-streak to 17 games, the longest streak since Biola assistant coach Chris Weems had an 18-game streak during the 2005 season.
The two teams close out the home-and-home series on Thursday (Apr. 3) afternoon at 3:00 p.m. in Costa Mesa.
