LA MIRADA, Calif. — A complete game gem from Luke Ballantyne, big solo homerun from James Whitman and some crafty base running from Biola all add up to a 3-2 walk-off win over No. 23 Westmont in the doubleheader finale at Eagles Diamond on Friday afternoon.

"Our team showed a ton of resilience," said Head Coach Jesse Rodgers. "These guys always fight. They're never out of it and are consistently engaged."

A two-run home run in the top of the third was the only offense for a majority of the game as Ballantyne and the Westmont starter Caden Beloian were locked in a pitcher's duel throughout. 

Aside from that homer, Ballantyne was magnificent in his seven innings on the bump. The sophomore held a high-octane Westmont offense to just four total hits (three singles, 1 HR) just 30 minutes after they plated 24 runs in game one. He struck out six and faced just five batters over the minimum, while the Biola defense supported him with a clean game.

"Bally was awesome. There's probably one pitch he wants back, but other than that he was just competing the whole time," said Rodgers.

Biola's offense was slowed down a bit from game one as well. The Eagles were held without a hit until the third inning as Beloian had his strikeout stuff working and the Westmont defense was cleaned up after some miscues in game one. 

The Eagles stranded one runner on in the third, two on in the fourth and then were held hitless across the fifth and sixth innings as their window to answer back the 2-0 deficit was shrinking.

A lift in energy came after Ballantyne got the third out of the top of the seventh and the team welcomed him back to the dugout after his tremendous effort.

Just a few minutes later, Whitman hit a ball that left the yard in a hurry over the left field fence to put the first chink in the armor of Beloian and the Warriors. It was the Eagles' DH's first home run in about three weeks and got the home crowd going crazy.

The Biola offense did not let up one bit after that, with Kyle Rogers working his way on base with a one-out single. Reef Danner pinch-ran for him and immediately swiped the second base bag in a bang-bang play at the base. That put the game-tying run in scoring position with three outs to work with, beginning to make things feel more manageable for BU.

Next, Oscar Knapp walked, and then both base runners advanced a bag when Beloian balked. It was at that moment that everything changed as Biola now not only had the tying run in scoring position, but the winning run as well.

A sacrifice fly made the first out of the inning, but guaranteed the game would continue as Danner touched home plate to knot the game at two. 

After that, another walk finally forced Westmont to turn to its bullpen, bringing in a pitcher who also logged one inning in relief for them in game one of the day's doubleheader. This time, though, he would not log one inning. He would log only one batter faced, as pinch-runner Ashton Pass took off towards third base and forced an errant throw from the Westmont catcher, which allowed him to come around and score the walk-off run.

"This gives us some momentum," said Rodgers. "The series is out there for us, and we walk away from this feeling confident."

The win is Biola's 10th of the year, improving their overall mark to 10-8, including an impressive 9-3 record at Eagles Diamond. They move on to play two more in this series against Westmont, with an 11 a.m. first pitch scheduled for tomorrow at Westmont. Tomorrow's games launch a 16-game road trip for Biola Baseball, with its next countable contest at Eagles Diamond not until Saturday, April 4.

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