Saturday, April 7, 2018

Heroes Under The Lights

Recap, photo courtesy of Biola University
Biola improves to 7-1 in night games after Troy Stainbrook and Joey Magro provide leading performances.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Biola maintained one of its anomalies in the 2018 season by pulling out another win in a night game to improve to 7-1 under floodlights this year. Starter Troy Stainbrook pitched six strong innings while the Eagles pushed past California Baptist with two runs in the ninth to win 9-7 and spoil the Lancer's late comeback.

The win adds a bit more cushion to the Eagles' third-place position in conference with a record of 21-10, 13-8 PacWest. CBU drops to 18-13, 11-10 PacWest despite tying the game at 7-7 in the seventh with six runs against the Eagles bullpen.

The Eagles jumped out to an immediate 1-0 lead and scored in the first inning for the 11th time this season after Jerron Largusa hit a sacrifice fly to score Ryan Gallegos.

Biola would collect three more hits over the next three innings in an unsuccessful attempt to increase its lead, but it turned out that the Eagles were able to afford the delay because Stainbrook delivered another good start in a night game.

Stainbrook held the Lancers to just three hits over their first four innings at the plate while registering three strikeouts and a double play in the process. Stainbrook finished with 94 pitches in six innings and allowed a single, seemingly inconsequential, run in the sixth to lower his ERA in night games to 2.91. The Eagles are now 3-1 when Stainbrook gets the ball under the lights, going back to his 10-strikeout performance in six innings against Western Oregon on Feb. 8.

By the time the bottom of the sixth rolled around, Biola had cracked the game open with a 6-0 lead built on a bases-loaded double from Joey Magro. Magro followed Jacob Winn's leadoff triple to gives the Eagles two extra-base hits in the fifth inning and forced California Baptist to yank its starter with two outs in the frame after he hit a liner to right-center on a 2-0 pitch.

Magro's final line gave him three hits in four at-bats, a run scored and a career-high five RBI's once he hit a scarifice fly in the ninth to give the Eagles their 9-7 advantage.

The game got really tight when CBU scored six runs in the seventh inning to tie it. But reliever Josh Ludeman bounced back after the Lancers stormed back to retire four men in a row from last of the seventh through the eighth inning.

Daniel Jang closed things out for his 12th save of the season after the Eagles score two runs in the ninth inning without getting a hit. Jang threw 16 pitches and was gifted the last out of the game when a Lancer baserunner overran the second-base bag to the point he could not get back in time before Ricky Perez tagged him out.

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