Box Score
EASLEY, S.C. --- The No. 1 Biola Eagles did not need much time at all to settle into play at the NCCAA World Series. Ace Micah Beyer was excellent in a short outing and the Eagles drove in four early runs to take a lead that would carry them to a 8-4 victory over the No. 8 Ottawa (Ariz.) Spirit.

"In a tournament like this it's always good to get the first one," said Head Coach Jay Sullenger. "We got a nice start on the mound from Micah and felt good about the feel of the game and Dallas [Burk] behind him. It's a real credit to the pitching staff that we were able to prepare ourselves well to play six games in four days."

The commanding win creates some momentum for Biola headed into game two on Wednesday against No. 5 Concordia University Ann Arbor sometime after 5:00 p.m. (PT) today. Like the Spirit, the Concordia Cardinals are 0-1 after losing 2-0 to No. 4 Southwestern Christian earlier on Wednesday.

Biola jumped out to a 3-0 lead first inning lead over the Spirit in a flash. Beyer quickly retired the side in order in the top of the first on nine pitches with two strikeouts. Then the Eagles' first three hitters jumped on Ottawa (Ariz.) starter Hayden Durkiewicz for three extra-base hits to get the home dugout rumbling.

Ricky Perez and Jacob Portaro validated their NCCAA All-West Region selections by putting together back-to-back doubles to score the first run of the game. Then senior Colton Worthington proved he was still riding high from his walkoff homerun in the NCCAA West Regional Championship by delivering the big blow of the inning. Even in spite of 11-day break between his walkoff and his first at-bat in the World Series, Worthington still smashed another no-doubt-about-it homerun on the first pitch and then reached safely in his next three plate appearances.

After another easy inning for Beyer in the second, the Eagles added one more run when Joey Magro hit his first roundtripper of the season to leadoff and the game stayed in Biola's control thereafter.

The Eagles elected to pull Beyer after three scoreless innings and 41 pitches in hopes of using him again later in the tournament and benefited from the performance of reliever Dallas Burk. The lefty did well enough to maintain and healthy cushion for the Eagles and worked particularly well in his first inning, when he stranded the bases loaded.

Burk was credited with his second win of the season after getting Biola through the seventh. He struck out three over 72 pitches and prevented the Spirit from pushing across its third and fourth runs until Biola had increased its total to eight.

The Eagles used four runs in the fifth to get their eighth run and break the game open a bit. The first three hitters of the inning reached base safely to set the table for a Jerron Largusa ground, a Magro sacrifice fly and two hit batters to score four times.

Anthony Villegas and Honus Kindreich allowed nothing across during the final two innings to wrap up the win. Biola will have a short break before returning to J.B. "Red" Owens Sports Complex for a game under the lights. Approximate start time is just after 6:00 p.m. (PT).