SANTA CLARITA, Calif. --- The Biola Eagles only got two opportunities to get to Academy of Art starter Luke Lacy on Friday but two was all they needed.
 
Biola created a 5-0 lead after four innings and chased Lacy after three innings of work on the way to a 6-1 victory. The win pushes the Eagles to 17-6 and 9-4 in the PacWest while the Urban Knights fall to 12-14, 7-10 PacWest.
 
Joey Magro and Colton Worthington kicked off Biola's offense in the bottom of the first with back-to-back hits off of sliders. After Lacy brought the count to 2-2 against Magro with an electric fastball, the Eagles' second baseman made him pay for leaving his slider up and pulled it down the left-field line for a double. Then Worthington muscled a belt-high slider to the opposite field to give the Eagles a small lead for a game that appeared to be a pitchers' duel through the early going.
 
But starting left fielder Andy Van Antwerp would erase any thoughts of a low-scoring game in the fourth inning when his second-long fly ball of the game carried over the fence by the left field foul pole cash in a bases-loaded situation and make the score 5-0. The grand slam was Van Antwerp's third homerun of the year and came on another slider from Lacy in a two-strike count.
 
Those slight mistakes in the first and fourth innings would put Eagles' starter Micah Beyer in the driver's seat and free him up to attack ART U hitters for 10 strikeouts on the day. Beyer induced 19 swing-and-misses from Urban Knights hitters and had five innings where he threw 13 pitches or fewer.  
 
He did not allow his run until the eighth inning when Alex Frenandez drove in a run with a two-out triple to left center. Beyer immediately climbed back atop the beam and struck out Taylor Martin to complete his eighth inning of work and preserve his quality start.
 
This is the fifth start in a row that Beyer has gone at least seven innings for the Eagles and the second time he has collected at least 10 strikeouts during a start.
 
The Eagles added their sixth run in the sixth inning when Jacob Portaro hit a light-tower shot to left for a solo homerun. Portaro tied Worthington for the team-lead with four homeruns and pushed his current hitting streak to nine game.
 
Biola will have a fresh bullpen for Saturday's game after Devin Sutorius got out of the ninth inning with 15 pitches. These two teams will return to The Master's University on Saturday for the second game of the series with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m.