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Janger

Baseball Brandon Taylor, Sports Information Assistant

Eagles’ Late Rally Shines Through the Rain

Eagles (9-4) finish the week with a 4-1 record.

Box Score LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola earned a 5-3 victory on Friday against the Corban Warriors with sheer willpower. Down by three runs in the fifth, the Eagles pushed through gusts of rain to score five runs over the next three frames and win their fourth game in as many days.

Daniel Jang withstood the slippery conditions and three Warriors hits over the final 2.2 innings to complete his longest save of the season.

"It was a mental battle for me more than anything, but I had confidence that the guys behind me were going to play good defense," said Jang. "My teammates kept me locked in and allowed me just to do my job even though I've never pitched in conditions like that before."

Although the rain held up for the first hour of play, Corban's starter Rilyn Lewchuk held the Eagles hitless in their first four trips to the play by working six ground balls for seven outs. On the other side, Sam Thorne got the start for Biola to alleviate the strain on the starting rotation and did admirably.

Thorne limited a Warriors team that scored eight runs in game two of Wednesday's doubleheader to just one tally in three innings of work. He induced two swinging strikeouts on sliders without surrendering a walk.

In the fifth inning the rain made a heavy impact of the game by caking dirt into cleats and making the ball slick. Corban was first to take advantage of those conditions by expanding their lead to 3-0 on just one hit, an error and a wild pitch.

But the field conditions would not relent for the Warrior infielders in the bottom half of the inning. The difficulties both sides experienced while trying adjusting to unpredictable hops and simply keeping hold of the ball resulted in two errors in the fifth inning for the Warriors and three runs for Biola to tie the game.

Thorne knocked runs one and two in for the Eagles with a liner up the middle and Jeremy Barth immediately tacked on another with an RBI single of his own. Four of Thorne's six RBI's this season have come in games where he saw time on the rubber.

The Eagles would take the lead for good in the sixth on a double from Anj Bourgeois and an inspired bit of baserunning from first baseman Colton Worthington. Worthington has been in the thick of every Biola win this week and surprised everyone by jumping out of the way of catcher Jackson Smith's tag attempt. The throw home had Worthington beat by a good two steps, but the junior had the wherewithal to bend his waist away from Smith's glove while hopping to his left before diving for the front of the plate.

A second RBI single from Barth made things slightly more comfortable in the seventh after Jang got a strikeout with the bases loaded preserved the one-run advantage in the top half.

Then the junior closer finished off the game and James Goodwin's first victory by striking out two in the ninth. Consequently, Biola finishes the week's five-game schedule with a 4-1 record and a 9-4 mark overall.

"We know that we have room to improve even though we won four out of five this week," said Jang. "The win is certainly a good note to end on and just makes us more hungry for our series next week [against Westmont].

Following the six-day break, the Eagles travel to Santa Barbara to the face the Warriors of Westmont. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
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Players Mentioned

Jeremy Barth

#7 Jeremy Barth

OF
6' 4"
Senior
L/R
Anj Bourgeois

#8 Anj Bourgeois

IF
5' 11"
Sophomore
L/R
Daniel Jang

#17 Daniel Jang

RHP/IF
5' 7"
Junior
R/R
Sam Thorne

#14 Sam Thorne

IF/RHP
5' 8"
Senior
R/R
Colton Worthington

#24 Colton Worthington

OF/1B
5' 11"
Junior
R/R
James Goodwin

#44 James Goodwin

RHP
6' 4"
Sophomore
R/R

Players Mentioned

Jeremy Barth

#7 Jeremy Barth

6' 4"
Senior
L/R
OF
Anj Bourgeois

#8 Anj Bourgeois

5' 11"
Sophomore
L/R
IF
Daniel Jang

#17 Daniel Jang

5' 7"
Junior
R/R
RHP/IF
Sam Thorne

#14 Sam Thorne

5' 8"
Senior
R/R
IF/RHP
Colton Worthington

#24 Colton Worthington

5' 11"
Junior
R/R
OF/1B
James Goodwin

#44 James Goodwin

6' 4"
Sophomore
R/R
RHP
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