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Joey

Baseball Brandon Taylor, Sports Information Assistant

Early Lead Holds Up For Seventh GSAC Win

Eagles over .500 in conference for the first time this season at 7-6.

Joey Magro had two hits and two walks in the 7-4 win over The Master's.
Box Score SANTA CLARITA, Calif. --- On the heels of a 15 run outburst on Tuesday, the Biola offense showed no signs of stopping on Friday against one of the best pitchers in the Golden State Athletic Conference. The Eagles scored six runs over the first three innings against The Master's ace Jason Karkenny and followed Jimmy Gallarda's 8.2 innings to a 7-4 win.

With the win, the 18-10 Eagles are 7-6 in GSAC and tied No. 21 Westmont for fourth place in the conference table. The 14-14 Mustangs are a game and a half back in fifth with a doubleheader against Biola still to come on Saturday.

The pitching matchup highlighted the first game of the series with each team sending their undisputed No. 1 to the mound. Coming into play Friday, both Karkenny and Gallarda had sub-3.00 ERA's, 35 strikeouts or more and were one and two on the conference leaderboard for innings pitched.

But Karkenny gave the Eagles an inch in the second with a Ricky Perez walk only to see Biola take a mile by building a 6-0 lead after 2.5 innings. Anj Bourgeois followed Perez' one-out walk with an RBI double and was immediately replaced at second when Joey Magro knocked him home to make it 2-0 after two.

Then Perez and Magro got involved again in the third inning with a single and walk, respectively, that scored runs with the bases loaded. A Karkenny punchout got the Mustangs one out away from escaping the third with a 4-0 deficit. But a solid liner up the middle from Trey Holly tagged the righty for two more runs and forced The Master's to bring in a new reliever to begin the fourth.

"We took some great at-bats early and I'm happy with the way we are trending at the plate right now," said Head Coach Jay Sullenger. "Holly's hit was big to get us six runs and Joey just had great at-bats all day [to reach safely four times]. We have more in us and we're still making progress and working to consistently play a strong nine innings."

The Master's had their share of scoring opportunities as well, but key groundouts and double plays from Gallarda left the home team with zeroes multiple times.

The first two Mustangs hitters reached in the bottom of the first and were camped at the corners with nobody out only for Gallarda to use a pickoff and two groundouts to get out the inning unscathed.

Double plays put the stopper on The Master's rallies in the fourth and sixth while Gallarda allowed seven hits and only one run through his first eight innings. He finished with four earned runs and the win after starting the ninth inning in an attempt for a complete game.

"How well Jimmy threw today was really put into clear relief by the adversity he overcame throughout his outing," said Head Coach Jay Sullenger. "His defense played just as well behind and was ready to turn double plays when Jimmy fed them those groundballs."

Gallarda reclaims the top spot in the NAIA leaderboard for innings pitched this season with 61.2 in eight starts.

These two teams return to action Saturday at Lou Herwaldt Stadium for two more pivotal conference contests. Game one of the doubleheader is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
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Players Mentioned

Anj Bourgeois

#8 Anj Bourgeois

IF
5' 11"
Sophomore
L/R
Jimmy Gallarda

#16 Jimmy Gallarda

RHP/1B
6' 3"
Senior
R/R
Joey Magro

#6 Joey Magro

3B
6' 0"
Sophomore
R/R
Trey Holly

#55 Trey Holly

OF
5' 9"
Junior
L/L
Ricky Perez

#20 Ricky Perez

SS
6' 0"
Junior
R/R

Players Mentioned

Anj Bourgeois

#8 Anj Bourgeois

5' 11"
Sophomore
L/R
IF
Jimmy Gallarda

#16 Jimmy Gallarda

6' 3"
Senior
R/R
RHP/1B
Joey Magro

#6 Joey Magro

6' 0"
Sophomore
R/R
3B
Trey Holly

#55 Trey Holly

5' 9"
Junior
L/L
OF
Ricky Perez

#20 Ricky Perez

6' 0"
Junior
R/R
SS
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