Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SANTA CLARITA, Calif. --- Pitching, hitting and defense. Three facets of baseball that are each equally, yet uniquely, important to a team looking to get a win.
 
Unfortunately for Biola, it only sported two-thirds of those facets this weekend, and it resulted in two Saturday losses to complete a series sweep for No. 20 The Master's College.
 
"We didn't have the weekend we desired, but it definitely got better as it went on," said Head Coach Jay Sullenger.
 
The weekend improved because on Saturday the Eagles got two solid starting pitching performances that kept them close in both ballgames. Despite the sound starting outings Biola lost game one 5-2 and dropped the second half of the doubleheader 3-2 in a walk-off win for the Mustangs.
 
Eric Diomartich got stuck with his second tough-luck loss of the season, hurling over six innings in the opener, allowing just two earned runs. He allowed five total runs, four of which came in a bottom of the third inning that saw TMC pile compound two Biola defensive lapses with solid hitting.
 
After that inning The Master's was done with its scoring, as Diomartich settled in and the Eagles got a great 1.2 innings of relief from Jimmy Gallarda, but the damage was done as the Eagles' bats remained quiet.
 
Julian Jarrard's bat has never claimed to be quiet, and it was one of Biola few punches of power this weekend, as the junior first baseman went yard in the fourth inning. It is Jarrard's second homerun, making exactly half of his hits four-baggers.
 
Biola would scratch together one more run in the losing effort, ultimately succumbing to the Mustangs' overwhelming trio of pitchers, who recorded 11 strikeouts in the early game.
 
Steve Karkenny recorded the save in the Saturday opener, giving him a save, four hits, two homeruns, six runs, three RBI, four walks, two hit-by-pitches, two sacrifices and a steal in a remarkable weekend.
 
"We've got to give The Master's credit for fielding a solid baseball team," said Sullenger. "They've got some guys who are experienced baseball players, and they played like it."
 
Game two was highlighter by a great pitching performance from Micah Beyer, who threw 4.2 one-run innings in the first start of his Biola career. He went toe-to-toe with David Carpenter, leaving the game with a 2-1 lead.
 
Beyer faced six over the minimum number of batters in his time on the bump, allowing three hits and three walks, but seven strikeouts and a few popups helped him hold the Mustangs' bats at bay after a first inning run.
 
Biola's runs came in the third and fifth innings, first off the lone glimpse of good, clean situational hitting, and the second off a mistake pitch by TMC.
 
Andrew Frank, Tanner Swire and Julian Jarrard got things going in the third with a double sandwiched between two singles. Jarrard got the RBI single with a hard-hit liner to the left side.
 
The fifth inning set itself up with a handful of hits followed by a Jeremy Barth walk to load the bases. Rawley Hughes then took one for the team to get the Eagles in the driver's seat for the first time on the weekend.
 
That hit-by-pitch was not the only non-hit to score a run in this one, as a Biola balk in the bottom of the sixth inning allowed TMC to tie the game headed into the final inning of play.
 
Then, in their half of the first extra inning, the Mustangs took advantage of an inning-opening double, from Karkenny of course, to get a walk-off win a few batters later.
 
"We competed much better, especially in the second game today, but in the end we just couldn't get the bats going at all this weekend," said Sullenger. "They defended their turf well. It is a series we can hopefully learn a lot from."
 
The Eagles drop to 3-5 (1-5 GSAC) with the loss, while TMC moves to 5-2 (4-2 GSAC). Biola comes back to Eagles Diamond this upcoming weekend for another difficult matchup. The Eagles host No. 18 Concordia (6-1, 5-1 GSAC) on Friday and Saturday.