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Baseball Brandon Taylor, Sports Information Assistant

Defensive Miscues Twice As Costly For Biola

Andy Van Antwerp hit a clutch double in the 10th inning of game two to give Biola a 5-4 lead.

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- Even though former Commissioner of Baseball Bart Giamatti has said, "baseball is a game designed to break your heart," the perspective does not make Saturday's two losses at Westmont sting any less for the Eagles.

10-7 Biola is still looking for its first Golden State Athletic Conference win of the season at 0-5, while the Warriors two victories lift them to 9-2, 3-1 GSAC.

Things were looking up from the get-go in game one as Jerron Largusa hit his third homerun of the season to make it 1-0 Biola before Micah Beyer took the mound. But after Westmont's Michael Stefanic evened the score with a homer of his own in the bottom half, the Warriors reaped three runs they did not sow in the following two innings to take a 4-1 lead.

Beyer settled in after that and kept Westmont from getting further away while he was in the ballgame. The junior righty used 118 pitches to go seven innings. He struckout four while only giving up four hits and two walks.

But Westmont starter David Gaydos had a nearly identical linescore and was just as good as Beyer. Particularly, Gaydos was able to call on a pitcher's best friend in key moments. When the Eagles got leadoff singles in the fifth and seventh innings, Gaydos immediately erased the basepaths with double plays that snuffed out any sort of rally.

Gaydos was also able to successfully navigate a bases-loaded one-out jam in the fourth by inducing a pop-out in foul territory and an inning-ending groundball.

Two more runs on three hits in the eighth for Westmont put the game out of reach at 6-1 and reliever Sean Coyne closed up shop in the ninth for his first save and the Warriors' victory.

Biola's bats remained dormant until the fifth inning of game two, when the Eagles turned the lineup over to score four runs and take a three-run lead. The biggest hit of the inning belonged to third baseman Sam Thorne, whose two-out RBI single up the middle kept Biola from getting bounced out the inning with just one run. Following Thorne's run batted in, the Eagles would score on a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch while sending all nine men to plate in the frame.

Later, two Warrior hitters found pitches in their wheelhouses that resulted in homeruns to tie the score at four. But the fun was only just beginning.

Starter Wyatt Haccou sent the game into extras after he fanned Shane Soria to strand a runner at third and end the frame with no scoring. Haccou went a strong seven innings, surrendering only five hits and inducing 13 groundballs for outs.

Then relievers Daniel Jang and Steven Larson duked it out in the extra frames, with Jang only needing to face six batters to complete his first two innings of work.

Once the tenth inning rolled around the Eagles reached out to take the game in their grasp, using a Daniel Rasmussen single and an Andy Van Antwerp double to claw to a 5-4 lead.

Jang was able to retire the first two batters of the 10th without incident. But with his pitch count climbing above 30, fatigue set in for two walks which set the stage for Stefanic again.

Stefanic smashed a single to right field that would have probably resulted in a bases-loaded opportunity for the next hitter. But the ball found its way past the Biola outfielders and allowed the Warriors to win 6-5 in walk-off fashion as both runs scored.

Biola returns home to face the Bethesda Flames on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m.
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Players Mentioned

Micah Beyer

#28 Micah Beyer

RHP
5' 11"
Junior
R/R
Daniel Jang

#17 Daniel Jang

RHP/IF
5' 7"
Junior
R/R
Jerron Largusa

#77 Jerron Largusa

OF
6' 2"
Sophomore
R/R
Daniel Rasmussen

#5 Daniel Rasmussen

OF
6' 1"
Senior
R/R
Sam Thorne

#14 Sam Thorne

IF/RHP
5' 8"
Senior
R/R
Andy Van Antwerp

#88 Andy Van Antwerp

OF
5' 10"
Freshman
R/R
Wyatt Haccou

#18 Wyatt Haccou

RHP
6' 0"
Junior
R/R

Players Mentioned

Micah Beyer

#28 Micah Beyer

5' 11"
Junior
R/R
RHP
Daniel Jang

#17 Daniel Jang

5' 7"
Junior
R/R
RHP/IF
Jerron Largusa

#77 Jerron Largusa

6' 2"
Sophomore
R/R
OF
Daniel Rasmussen

#5 Daniel Rasmussen

6' 1"
Senior
R/R
OF
Sam Thorne

#14 Sam Thorne

5' 8"
Senior
R/R
IF/RHP
Andy Van Antwerp

#88 Andy Van Antwerp

5' 10"
Freshman
R/R
OF
Wyatt Haccou

#18 Wyatt Haccou

6' 0"
Junior
R/R
RHP
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