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Josh Ludeman on a pitcher's mound
George Rodriguez
5
Winner Biola University BU-BASE 32-21
4
Concordia CUAA 33-22
Winner
Biola University BU-BASE
32-21
5
Final
4
Concordia CUAA
33-22
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Biola University BU-BASE 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 4 4
Concordia CUAA 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 4 5 4

W: Ludeman, Josh (5-4) L: Guevara,G (2-2) S: Jang, Daniel (14)

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

Ludeman Leads The Way

Josh Ludeman pulls the game out of the fire in the seventh inning and helps Biola defeat Concordia Ann Arbor, 5-4.

EASLEY, S.C. --- Sophomore right-hander Josh Ludeman stepped into the gap when everything seemed to be unraveling for the Biola Eagles in the seventh. Biola's 4-0 lead over No. 5 Concordia Ann Arbor had disappeared and the Cardinals had loaded the bases with no outs in a tie game.

But the situation did not phase Ludeman one bit. The Corona, California native struckout the first two men he faced and then induced a weak groundout to third to give the Eagles a jolt of momentum as they headed to the eighth inning in a 4-4 stalemate.

The Eagles fortitude in the seventh earned them some luck in their next at-bat, as a fielding error on a ground ball to short scored the go-ahead run with two outs. They just made sure they would not lose the lead a second time, as Ludeman and closer Daniel Jang collected the final six outs to finalize Biola's second win of the day.

"I saw a team that bent but did not break and they found a way to get it done tonight," said Head Coach Jay Sullenger. "A team is supposed to pick each other up and that was highlighted by Ludeman's performance there in the middle. Pitching in general did a nice job for us."

The 5-4 win is Biola's 32nd of the season and made the Eagles just the second team to win two games on day one. That other team is the No. 5 Southwestern Christian Eagles, who defeated the Cardinals earlier in the day to leave Concordia Ann Arbor with an 0-2 record to start pool play.

Biola only got four hits in the contest but somehow found a way to build a 4-0 lead after three innings. Senior Colton Worthington used one of those hits to drive in the first run of the game on a double then Biola used the small ball tactics of advancing runners with stolen bases and groundouts to plate the next three.

Troy Stainbrook was fantastic at the start and gave the sense the Eagles might be on their way to ending the night early with a run-rule win. But the Cardinals stuck in the game to tie it by the end of the sixth. Stainbrook still pitched well, allowing just one earned run over 4.1 innings of work, but he was not involved in the decision as the momentum of the game swung back-and-forth late.

It was really Ludeman's and Jang's relief over the last three innings that sealed the deal and kept momentum from crossing back into the other dugout. The two combined for three innings of perfect relief: no runners allowed with three strikeouts. Jang gets his 14th save of the season and shrinks his ERA even lower to 0.38 after 1.1 innings of work while Ludeman improves to 5-4 on the year after being credited with the win.

"We're gonna have to take care of our bodies tonight and work hard to get the first game tomorrow," said Sullenger. "We saw [No. 3] Campbellsville lose to the No. 10 seed today and we're playing the No. 9 seed [Bluefield] tomorrow. It's going to be one of those challenges to come off a late, emotional game and have a full day tomorrow."

Inclement weather is in the forecast for Easley on Thursday, so Biola's first game of the day against Bluefield is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. (PT). A win against the Rams would clinch Biola's spot in the semifinals on Friday.
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