LA MIRADA, Calif. --- What was supposed to be a great pitcher's duel turned into a mammoth slugfest with Vanguard University coming out on top, defeating Biola 19-7 in the first game of a four-game GSAC series on Wednesday afternoon at Eagles Diamond.

The Eagles drop to 16-7 with the loss and drop into a fourth-place tie in the conference at 10-6. The Lions, who are tied atop the GSAC standings, improve to 23-5 overall and to 14-3 in GSAC play.

The starting pitchers for both teams had been impressive thus far. Vanguard's Brandon Godfrey was the GSAC's best pitcher, going 5-0 this season with a 0.70 ERA in six starts. Biola's Alex Brueske had been moved into the starting rotation due to injuries and was 3-0 with an ERA under two in his first three starts.

But Brueske was not sharp and while Godfrey picked up the win, he allowed more earned runs over eight innings than he had over his previous six starts.

The two teams combined to score 26 runs and pound out 38 hits on the afternoon, but it was Vanguard doing much of hitting, scoring 19 runs on 22 hits. It was the most runs Biola had allowed in a game since a 24-10 loss at Cal State Dominguez Hills in 2008 and the worst home loss since a 23-0 defeat to Bellevue University (Neb.) on March 10,  1998.

The game got off to a pretty normal start with neither team scoring in the first. Vanguard got on the board first with a run in the second thanks to a solo home run by Tyson Leighton. The Lions would add two more in the third on a two-run shot by Brandon Young to go up 3-0 after three.

Vanguard would get one more in the fourth and added two more in the fifth to begin to pull away.

Biola started to make things interesting in the bottom of the fifth, though, finally getting to Godfrey. With two out and no one on, Mac Sullivan started the rally of with a walk. That was followed by five-straight singles by the Eagles'. Armando Arzate recorded the first, followed by an RBI-single by Phil Blazek to plate the first Biola run. That was followed by three more RBI-singles by Boone Farrington, Garrett Leon and Vinnie Fayard to make it 6-4 before the final out was recorded.

But that would be it for the Eagles for a bit while the Lions continued to add to their total.

Vanguard would answer Biola's four runs with two in the top of the sixth, chasing Brueske. The junior suffered the loss to fall to 4-2 overall, allowing eight runs--six earned--while allowing 10 hits over six innings. He also had six strikeouts mixed in.

The Lions continued to score at will though, adding one in the seventh, then blowing the game open with eight runs in the top of the eighth inning. Not to be outdone by his brother, Zachary Leighton led off the frame with a solo home run, then pinch hitter Jacob Wood provided the final shot, a three-run home run to right.

The Lions would add a pair of runs in the ninth to cap their scoring while Biola as able to manage three runs in the bottom of the ninth to make it a bit more respectable.

Godfrey threw eight innings in all, allowing a season-high four runs--all earned--and surrendering 12 hits. Godfrey had given up just five runs on 23 hits in his previous 38-plus innings pitched this season.

While there weren't many highlights for the Eagles, one of them was Garrett Leon. Last week's GSAC Player of the Week, Leon went 4-for-4 to keep his impressive hitting streak going. Leon has a seven-game hitting streak of which six of the game have been multi-hit games. Over that stretch, the junior is batting .621 (18-for-29) and has raised his season average from .339 to a team-leading .441.

The two teams return to Eagles Diamond on Thursday (March 25) for the second game of the four-game series at 3:00 p.m. The series concludes on Saturday (March 27) with a doubleheader at Vanguard beginning at Noon.