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Larson Kindreich throwing a baseball
Kyla McGuire
3
CSU Monterey Bay CSUMB 0-1
8
Winner Biola University BU-BASE 1-0
CSU Monterey Bay CSUMB
0-1
3
Final
8
Biola University BU-BASE
1-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
CSU Monterey Bay CSUMB 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 3 7 0
Biola University BU-BASE 0 1 1 3 1 0 2 0 X 8 14 0

W: Kindreich, Larson (1-0) L: McRAE, Ethan (0-1)

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

Eagles, Calhoon Get First Win

Biola Baseball goes 1-0 on opening day under Head Coach Jeff Calhoon and has a 6-3 lead in the 9th inning of game two.


LA MIRADA, Calif. --- You can't ask for a much better start to the 2020 Biola Baseball season or to the tenure of Head Coach Jeff Calhoon after the Eagles' performance on Friday. The Biola Boys took early leads in both games, smashed a total of eight extra-base hits and are set up extremely well to start the season 2-0 after winning game one 8-3. Game two was suspended due to darkness and will be completed starting at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning. 

"We had great energy today and I'm proud of the way the guys competed," said Coach Calhoon. "Larson gave us a great start in game one. But now we're focusing on still having a game to finish tomorrow and the opportunity to win a series against a solid CSU Monterey Bay team."

Biola came into the day knowing it would need to play well to compete with a Cal State Monterey Bay team went 35-23 a year ago to make the NCAA West Regionals. And the Eagles certainly met that requirement: Opening Day starting pitcher Larson Kindreich striking out the side in the first and pitched another scoreless frame in the second before the Eagles took a 1-0 lead. 

That initial run came via a two-out rally sparked by Connor Kostecka and Ben Smith, who continued to make things hard on started Ethan McRae by working long counts. Kostecka singled to left before advancing on a passed ball. Then Smith poked a veteran's base knock through the left side in his first at-bat with Biola to give him team the lead.

Both men's hits came with two strikes and are indicative of how much success Biola had in their approach against the Otters' left-hander. McClure was done after just three innings of work and threw at least 19 pitches in every frame.

The scoring opened up in a big way for Biola after the second inning as the Eagles began to capitalize on extra-base hits. RobertAnthony Cruz and Jacob Portaro hit doubles three batters apart to make it 2-0. Then run-and-hit double from Tyler Baca plated Brandon Cody to put Biola up by three. 

Three pitches after Baca's double, Cruz got a fastball middle-in and absolutely crushed a homerun over the fence in right center to punctuate an excellent start to 2020 for the All-PacWest second baseman. Cruz went 4-for-5 with a homerun, two doubles, two RBI's and two runs scored in the 8-3 win. And he has already followed up the performance with a walk and a run scored in game two.

Jackson Collins and Jacob Portaro joined Cruz with homers in game one and combined for four RBI's. Portaro will start Saturday in a tie with Cruz for a team-best four hits after going 3-for-4 in game one and hitting another homerun in the game to be completed. The senior third baseman has now reached safely in 24-straight games after he ended the 2018 season on a long reached-base streak.

Biola's pitching was also solid through the first 17 innings of the season. Kindreich turned in six shutout innings and eight strikeouts compared to just one walk for the win in game one. The sophomore lefty also retired nine in a row beginning with the second out of the second inning and induced 14 swing-and-misses from Otter batters.

Ryan Flippo and Gilbert Lopez both did what they needed to do to maintain Biola's sufficient lead in the late innings. Lopez' work was particularly important as he took care of the final two frames and prevented the Eagles from having to use any more arms before the second game on Friday.

Kenny Carillo showed a lot of mental toughness and fight to work out of jams in three scoreless innings to begin game two. And Joey Leavitt retired 10 batters in a row during a stretch of his three-plus innings of work. 

Cal State Monterey Bay was able to make game two closer with three runs in the seventh. But Honus Kindreich shut the door on the Otters getting anything more and the Eagles added an insurance run with a bases loaded walk from Jackson Collins in the eighth.

Game two of the series will resume with Biola holding a 6-3 lead in the top of the ninth inning on Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. After the completion of game two, the teams will take a 30 minute break before the first pitch of the series finale. 
 
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