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Colton Worthington walk off celebration
George Rodriguez
2
Saint Katherine USK 34-15
3
Winner Biola University BU-BASE 30-20
Saint Katherine USK
34-15
2
Final
3
Biola University BU-BASE
30-20
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Saint Katherine USK 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 2
Biola University BU-BASE 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 9 0

W: Jang, Daniel (2-0) L: WHITE, A. (1-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Brandon Taylor, Assistant Sports Information Director

No Doubt About It

Biola wins the NCCAA West Regional Championship 3-2 with a walkoff homerun from senior Colton Worthington.


LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Playoff baseball was at its finest in the NCCAA West Region Championship at Eagles Diamond on Saturday afternoon. The game between the Saint Katherine Firebirds and the Biola Eagles had everything ingredient you needed for excitement: pitchers with great stuff, back-and-forth scoring and, most importantly, a feel-good finish that ended the Championship with a bang and a Biola victory.

"We wanted to build some momentum back up knowing that this was our last game before we're off for over a week. And for our seniors we knew that this was their last chance to play the game well on this field," said Head Coach Jay Sullenger. "It was fun to see Daniel Jang get a win on his last time on this field and to see Colton Worthington get the walkoff. Those are two guys that have been really key in this program continuing to grow and to get better each year."

Senior captain Colton Worthington punched his team's ticket to the NCCAA World Series in Easley, South Carolina by hitting a leadoff homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game, 3-2. It was Worthingthon's seventh homerun of the year and one of his biggest, sending all of his teammates racing out of the first base dugout to mob him at homeplate.

"I feel blessed and I just gotta give that one up to the Lord. He was with me there in that homerun," said Worthington. "I'm pumped for the team. That was a great win and we've been looking for something to spark us for when we get to South Carolina, so I hope that lights a fire for us. I felt like everybody really showed up today and is trying to buy into our championship effort."

The Eagles would not have been in a position to win the game with one swing of the bat had it not been for the great pitching from start to finish by junior Devin Sutorius and company.

Sutorius made the longest start of his season and made it his best. The left-hander pounded the zone for seven innings and struck out seven while allowing just two runs. That's an impressive feat against a Saint Katherine team that had a 9-1 record over its last 10 games.

The Eagles' starter was particularly excellent at limiting the damage the Firebirds did in innings where the did score and shutting down scoring opportunities when Saint Katherine had runners on base. When the Firebirds took what would be their final lead of the game in the fourth, they started the inning by collecting three-straight hits. But Sutorius got out of trouble and did a lot of the work himself to get out of the inning, starting a 1-5-4 double play on a sacrifice bunt attempt to move two runners over.   

Sophomore Josh Ludeman got out a jam just as effectively when he was brought into relieve Sutorius in the eighth. After two runners reached with one out, Ludeman induced swinging strikeouts from the visitors' eight and nine hitters to maintain the 2-2 tie for Biola headed into the bottom of the eighth.

Biola did not create a threat in the eighth but there was not an ounce of worry in the home dugout going into the ninth inning because Daniel Jang was waiting in the wings. The senior closer had a pedestrian 10-pitch frame to record his 16th-straight scoreless outing, retiring the top three hitters in the Saint Katherine order. The Firebirds came into the game with four batters hitting .350 or higher who held down the two through five spots in their order. But Biola's pitching was simply too much for that quartet on Saturday, limiting them to just two hits in 16 at-bats.

The Eagles did not take a lead until Worthington's walkoff homer, but they did immediately tie the game each time Saint Katherine scratched a run across. Phil Knapp's RBI groundout in the second scored Ryan Gallegos to tie the game at 1-1. Then sophomore Andy Van Antwerp came up with a big two-out, two-strike single to plate Gallegos again to even the score at 2-2 in the fourth.

Gallegos and Ricky Perez led the Eagles by reaching base safely three times each on Saturday.

The NCCAA World Series will be held from May 23 to May 26 and seeding for the tournament will be determined on May 15. Updates on Biola's seeding will be posted to athletics.biola.edu
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