Box Score SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- It may not be March anymore, but through the first three games this 2016 Golden State Athletic Conference baseball tournament sure has been madness. No. 5 seed Biola upset No. 1 seed Westmont with a 4-2 win in the final game of the day to snap a streak of 15-straight losses to the Warriors.

"It was a great team effort, led by Gallarda," said Head Coach Jay Sullenger. "He single handedly kept us in the game by working out of some james early."
 
The long ball was the weapon of choice for Sullenger's squad. The team hit four homeruns on the day and three in this game as it did damage against the conference's best starting pitcher, Daniel Butler, and arguably its best reliever, Michael Rishwain.
 
In this game, the Eagles' second of the day and Westmont's first of the tournament, Biola got solo shots from Alec de Watteville, Jeremy Barth and Jerron Largusa to power its way to a second upset victory in as many tries at this year's tournament.
 
The Eagles fell behind 2-0 after Westmont managed single runs in the second and third innings off of game two starter, Jimmy Gallarda.
 
The run in the second inning was unearned as Biola committed errors on back-to-back plays to give an advantage to a No. 6 Westmont team that definitely does not normally need any help scoring runs. Gallarda did a good job of working out of a jam though as he held another runner at third base and retired the final two hitters of the inning to keep Westmont to just the one run.
 
Westmont was sniffing for more again in the third inning with back-to-back-to-back singles to lead off the frame. However, the offense again fell flat as Gallarda got a groundout, strikeout and popout to end the inning and again limit the damage.
 
A two-run lead that early in the game was daunting to this Biola contingent, because they were facing a starting pitcher that came into the day with an 11-1 record and a tiny 2.03 earned run average.
 
With two outs in their half of the fourth inning the Eagles blew that ERA out of the water as de Watteville and Barth trotted around the bases with back-to-back homeruns that tied the game and pushed the pendulum back in favor of BU.
 
The two teams traded scoreless innings over the next 3+ frames as the sun began to go down at Russell Carr Field and the game was still tied into the eighth inning.
 
Head Coach Robert Ruiz made the decision to pull Butler in favor of Rishwain, who had a 0.57 ERA in 31.1 innings of relief work, to begin the eighth inning facing Biola's 9-1-2 hitters.
 
Largusa made him pay on the second pitch of the inning when he took the ball out of the park and put Biola on top and gave the Eagles a chance to register a win against Westmont in Santa Barbara for the first time since 2013.
 
Another insurance run came across to score in the top of the eighth as de Watteville hit an RBI single that scored Sam Thorne and doubled Biola's advantage. It was the second earned run of the inning against a pitcher that gave up two earned runs all season.
 
Buddy Brouwer pitched a perfect eighth and handed the ball off to Daniel Jang in the ninth. Jang came on looking for his second save of the day after throwing five pitches and recorded two outs in Biola's earlier win over Menlo.
 
He allowed a leadoff single and would later allow another single but ultimately got the three outs needed to close out the game and complete Biola's Cinderella run through the first day of competition.
 
Gallarda got the win after throwing seven innings of two-run ball. He allowed eight hits but was able to wiggle out of trouble all day long thanks to five key strikeouts. He improved to 7-6 this season and has a 4-1 record in his last five decisions.

"The guys went and took two big games today," said Sullenger. "They are on a mission! We also realize we are only halfway to our goal. We did not come just to play well, but we came to win this tournament."
 
Biola picks up its 30^th win (30-25) of the year to reach that win total for the first time since 2011. The Eagles move on to a point where they are just one win away from the championship series. They play The Master's College (35-16) at noon on Tuesday for a chance to remain in the winner's bracket. The game will be broadcast live at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/westmont/.