LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola had a chance to win its third in four games on Tuesday afternoon, but its batters again could not handle the Bethesda Flames' starting pitching and Bethesda got some early runs leading to BU's 2-5 loss.

Jesse Yancosek began the day on the bump for Biola and was unhittable through the first two innings, setting the Flames down in order in each frame. Biola was the team that had the first opportunity to score, getting a runner in scoring position with nobody out in the first inning.

The Eagles did not convert that opportunity, so it was Bethesda that was able to open the scoring with a big inning in the third. Yancosek allowed five singles to the first six batters of the inning, allowing the Flames to score three runs through the firs time and a half through their batting order.

Biola was able to get runners into scoring position again in the third and the fifth, but was unable to do anything with them, keeping the deficit at 0-3 until the Flames got to Brandon Valente for one unearned run in the seventh inning. That run came after Daniel Jang came out of the game after 3.0 fantastic innings of one-hit relief, coming in after Yancosek was removed after 3.1 innings.

Bethesda's pitching staff continued to control the game up until Biola's last chance to overcome what had become a 0-5 deficit in their half of the ninth inning. The Flames used starter Adrian Peraza and two relievers to shut down Biola's bats up to that point. The Eagles had seven hits, but 10 strikeouts and zero walks in a undisciplined day at the plate.

That discipline came in the ninth when Biola began to rally and forced Bethesda coach Michael Gonzalez to use three more pitchers just to get Biola out and finish the game.

The inning began with back-to-back singles by Tanner Swire and Julian Jarrard, and then, with one out, a Jimmy Gallarda single, a walk and two wild pitches equated to two Biola runs and gave them a chance with the bases loaded and one out to win the game with one swing of the bat. 

Instead, the swing of the bat resulted in a game-ending double play and dropped Biola to 0-2 against Bethesda this season. The Eagles fall to 6-13 overall and the Flames improve to 8-14. 

Biola hosts San Diego Christian on Friday and Saturday of this week. The Hawks have lost 16 games in a row heading into this series