LA MIRADA, Calif. ---  Biola's Red vs. Gray Intrasquad Baseball Series came to a close on Saturday afternoon with Paul Slater's Gray team claiming the fifth game, 5-4, to win the series three games to two.
 
It was a close series from start to finish, with two fairly evenly matched teams. What made the difference was a few players stepping up with big performances in key moments. Those moments happened a little more often for the gray team than they did for the red team. This gave the team with the No. 2 pick in the draft the slight advantage.
 
The final game was won when Andrew Smith legged out a single in the bottom of the seventh inning to push home Aaron Chavez with the series-clinching run.
 
"Game five was a picture of the entire series," said Head Coach Jay Sullenger. "It was back-and-forth the whole way. Nobody gave in and it was a great example of what it is to compete. It took contributions from guys all through the lineup to get it done."
 
Andrew Smith was integral to gray's effort in this final game. He hit in the second slot for Slater and went 3-for-4 with two RBI. The biggest shot came off the bat of Andrew Frank, who hit a three-run blast in the bottom of the fourth to give the gray team what was at that point a 3-2 advantage in the game.
 
Frank became the MVP of the series with that shot. He hit fifth for the gray team and reached base six times in 19 at bats. He hit .316 overall with a double, two homeruns and eight RBI. Those numbers were huge coming from a guy who had just 25 at bats during the spring season in 2014.
 
"When you have an intrasquad series like this and a guy is batting fifth or sixth on one team that kind of tells you where he is on the depth chart of the team as a whole, and for a guy like that to have a couple homeruns and a couple game-winning hits in a five-game series is an example [of a guy who surprised us]."
 
Other standouts from the five-game set were Daniel Jang, Garrett Picha, Smith, Colin Brecheen and Jesse Yancosek.
 
Jang, Smith and Brecheen each participated in their first series for the Eagles and made an immediate impact.
 
Jang threw nine solid innings in relief and allowed just one earned run. Picha was every bit the ace he needed to be, going pretty deep in both of his starts to log a 2.70 ERA, a win and 13.1 innings pitched. Yancosek matched Picha in two very strong outings as the No. 2 starter for the red team. He had two no-decisions, but allowed just one earned run in his 10 innings on the bump.
 
Smith added to his already impressive series stats with his fantastic game in the championship. He had eight hits, four for extra bases and three RBI hitting near the top of the gray lineup. He also claimed one of the 12 stolen bases in the series. Brecheen was the batting average leader for the red team, hitting .333 with six hits in 18 at bats.
 
"As a coach, I am really excited. I saw some things I really wanted to see. I saw some relievers step in and make some good pitches and saw some guys have to be in some roles that right at the beginning of the season we should not have to expect them to be in," said Sullenger. "We wanted to see these guys get put under the microscope a little bit, the way they are going to be in the season, and we saw that throughout. It was a very worthwhile, great series."
 
The Eagles fall season is coming to a close and spring play begins Jan. 20 at CSU San Marcos. Get full box scores and play-by-plays from the links at the top of the page. Also, access on demand live broadcasts of all five games at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/biola/.
 
"I'm really excited about the team. I think with the gloves we've still got some work to do in a couple positions around the field, but we are moving exactly in the direction I want us to be," said Sullenger.