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Box Score 2 LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola got a walk-off, pinch-hit single by
Bria Madrid in the first game to get a 1-0 win over Vanguard University. However, the Eagles could not duplicate the late inning heroics, falling 3-2 in eight innings in the night cap on Saturday.
Biola ends the day with a 19-22 overall record and is now 5-5 in GSAC play having now won seven of its last nine games. Vanguard is 30-18 and 6-4 in conference play. The teams split the season series, 2-2.
The Eagles didn't get a lot of hits in the first game, collecting just three overall. However, the hits they did get were timely and propelled them on to victory.
Rachel Stalford allowed just one hit to Biola through the first six innings: an infield single by Mackenzie Magro in the third. But in the seventh, Chelsea Limm led off with a single, was moved to second and then scored on a single up the middle by Bria Madrid. The freshman took the first pitch she saw off the bench and hit it up the middle with Limm easily beating the throw home.
The Lions struggled against Biola starter Sarah Enriquez as well, recording five hits but not being able to push across a run. Vanguard had its best chance in the sixth as a single and an error put runners on the corners with one out. But Enriquez got a ground out to third and a come backer to end the inning.
The Lions threatened again in the seventh, getting a one-out single and two-out walk to put two more on base. But again, Enriquez got a big groundout to end the threat.
In the second game, Vanguard got the early drop on the Eagles with a run in the first. With two out, a hit by pitch followed by a double gave the Lions an early 1-0 lead.
But Biola answered right back with two runs in the bottom of the inning, taking advantage of a Vanguard error to take back the lead. Brooke Madrid opened the inning by reaching on an error and Heather Hall hit a one-out single. One out later, Ashley Spadt hit a single to right to bring home both Madrid and Hall and give Biola a 2-1 lead.
Vanguard tied the game in the fourth with a two-out double, but had the go-ahead run thrown out at the plate on a great throw by Limm.
Neither team could score the rest of the way, sending the game to extra innings. In the eighth, Vanguard did a good job of playing small ball to get the lead. A sacrifice bunt followed by an RBI-ground out gave the Lions a 3-2 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, the Eagles could not move the tiebreaker runner to third as the first two batters got out. But a single to center by Bria Madrid looked like it might tie the game, but Brooke Madrid was thrown out at the plate, ending the game.
Stalford got the decision in both games, coming on in relief in the fifth inning of game two to move to 8-7. Enriquez also got the decision in both games, throwing all 15 innings for Biola to go to 16-13 overall.
Biola returns to action on Tuesday, hosting La Sierra University in a non-conference game beginning at 2:00 p.m. The games are a makeup of rained out games earlier this season.
