Box Score SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- The top of the third inning was euphoric for Biola Baseball during its Friday afternoon series opener with No. 7 Westmont. The Eagles brought home four runs against the Warriors' ace to jump out to a quick 4-0 lead. The only problem was that the bottom of the third was just as friendly to Westmont as a 7-run third helped power the Warriors to an eventual 8-4 win.
 
It was an 11^th consecutive victory for the 37-7 Westmont team as it used that third-inning outburst to ensure it would stay one game ahead of No. 9 Vanguard for first place in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings.
 
This Friday loss puts another streak in jeopardy as Biola now needs to sweep Saturday's doubleheader in order to preserve its streak of 12 series in a row without a series loss. Two wins on Saturday would make that 13-straight. In fact, the Eagles have either won or split every series since they hosted these Warriors back on Feb. 26-27.
 
Biola's four-run third inning helped the team surge with confidence as it jumped on Westmont's starter, Daniel Butler. Butler came into the day with a 9-1 overall record and a 1.79 earned run average.

The Eagles put a dent in that ERA with all four of those third-inning runs being earned as Biola piled on five hits and a three-run homerun. Alec de Watteville supplied the power punch as he clubbed his 11^th homer of the year and picked up RBIs number 53, 54 and 55.  De Watteville leads the GSAC in RBI in 2016.
 
Biola's fourth run came as Jerron Largusa hit a sacrifice fly that brought Jeremy Barth across home plate to hand the ball back to Eric Diomartich, who had no-hit Westmont through two innings, with a sizeable advantage.
 
Unfortunately, teams that earn a top-10 national ranking normally know how to answer back quickly when their back is against the wall, and that is exactly what these Warriors did.
 
Westmont had five hits and two base-on-balls in their half of the third inning and they took full advantage as every single one of those base runners came around to score.
 
Five of those runs were absolute daggers as they came with two outs on a three-run triple and two-run homerun. That kind of production took all the wind out of the Eagles' sails as Biola could only manage three more hits over its six more offensive innings and succumbed to Butler's complete game effort.
 
Biola falls to 27-21 (14-11), while the Warriors improve to 37-7 (21-4). Saturday's games begin at 11:00 a.m. in Santa Barbara.