The Eagles were held hitless until the fourth inning as the offense continued to be slow-going, but one timely hit from Jay Perez ended up making all the difference the Eagles' narrow victory.
The fifth inning began well for BU when the Cougars' shortstop dropped a ball, allowing the lead-off hitter Andi Hormel to reach first safely. That was followed by a single through the left-side hole by Haley Martinez to set up the scoring. After a successful sacrifice bunt, Perez came up and roped a double to the right center field gap to drive in both runners and get the Eagles the lead.
Those two runs came in support of Paige Austin, who went the distance after earning her first collegiate start. The freshman allowed one first-inning run but then used some crafty pitches to work out of jams and keep them off the board the remainder of the game.
The Cougars had runners reach scoring position in every inning but the fourth, but Austin did a great job of inducing easy defensive outs. She entered the seventh inning having six strikeouts, six groundouts and six fly ball outs.
The freshman allowed six hits, but none went for extra bases, which was critical in limiting CSUSM to its lone run. The Cougars got their leadoff batter to second base immediately in the seventh as a single to left field and an error landed the runner in scoring position. A sacrifice bunt moved her to third base with one out, but Austin managed a can of corn popup to shortstop and a lineout to second base to end the game and secure her 11th pitching win of the season.
SAN MARCOS, Calif. --- Game two of Biola's doubleheader with CSU San Marcos was vastly different from the first as both offenses found their way across home plate repeatedly throughout the game and the end result was not decided until after three extra innings.
The Eagles came out on top in the finale to complete the doubleheader sweep with a 7-5 win thanks to three runs in the games final frame.
Biola was fortunate to get all the way to the 10th inning as San Marcos had several chances to put the game away throughout the first seven innings. The Eagles trailed 4-3 heading into their final at-bats and were down to their final out when freshman Ari Gonzales recorded a pinch-hit RBI single to drive home Kayla Neff and buy Biola a little more time.
Paula Damas, in the game in relief of Terri Van Dagens, put up a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh to usher the game into the initial stages of extra innings. The Eagles got three hits and a walk in their half of the first extra inning, but they could not scratch out a run as the final two outs of the inning were made on base runners caught between third base and home.
Those baserunning issues almost came back to bite the Eagles in the bottom half of the eighth as CSUSM got two of its first three runners on base and with two outs had a ball laced to shallow center field. Just as it looked like the game-winning hit would land on the grass Areana Ramos dove straight forward and got her glove underneath it to make the play and end the inning.
Biola once again had a chance to move ahead in the top of the ninth when Missy Poti got herself into scoring position with a two-out double. The Eagles were unable to capitalize as a flyout ended the inning and gave the Cougars one more chance to win by walk-off.
The Cougars also managed to get a runner on second base with two outs in their half of the inning, but Damas came up with a crucial strikeout to usher the game into the 10th.
This is when the international tiebreaker rules go into effect and BU began its frame with Andi Hormel placed on second base. A sacrifice bunt moved her to third to setup another chance for the Eagles to get the go-ahead run.
They did a whole lot more than that as a Kaile Chavez single and Jay Perez loaded the bases for Kayla Neff. Neff doubled to open the game up to 6-4 and eventually ended up at third base after a Hailey Boyett single drove in Perez to send the game to the bottom of the 10th with Biola ahead 7-4.
San Marcos managed to score the international tiebreaker runner from second base, but that would be all as Biola survived for its 26th win of the season.
The Eagles earned their first doubleheader sweep since March 9 vs. Holy Names. They improved to 26-8 on the season and now have a week-long break until they host Simpson University (13-13) next Tuesday.
The Eagles came out on top in the finale to complete the doubleheader sweep with a 7-5 win thanks to three runs in the games final frame.
Biola was fortunate to get all the way to the 10th inning as San Marcos had several chances to put the game away throughout the first seven innings. The Eagles trailed 4-3 heading into their final at-bats and were down to their final out when freshman Ari Gonzales recorded a pinch-hit RBI single to drive home Kayla Neff and buy Biola a little more time.
Paula Damas, in the game in relief of Terri Van Dagens, put up a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh to usher the game into the initial stages of extra innings. The Eagles got three hits and a walk in their half of the first extra inning, but they could not scratch out a run as the final two outs of the inning were made on base runners caught between third base and home.
Those baserunning issues almost came back to bite the Eagles in the bottom half of the eighth as CSUSM got two of its first three runners on base and with two outs had a ball laced to shallow center field. Just as it looked like the game-winning hit would land on the grass Areana Ramos dove straight forward and got her glove underneath it to make the play and end the inning.
Biola once again had a chance to move ahead in the top of the ninth when Missy Poti got herself into scoring position with a two-out double. The Eagles were unable to capitalize as a flyout ended the inning and gave the Cougars one more chance to win by walk-off.
The Cougars also managed to get a runner on second base with two outs in their half of the inning, but Damas came up with a crucial strikeout to usher the game into the 10th.
This is when the international tiebreaker rules go into effect and BU began its frame with Andi Hormel placed on second base. A sacrifice bunt moved her to third to setup another chance for the Eagles to get the go-ahead run.
They did a whole lot more than that as a Kaile Chavez single and Jay Perez loaded the bases for Kayla Neff. Neff doubled to open the game up to 6-4 and eventually ended up at third base after a Hailey Boyett single drove in Perez to send the game to the bottom of the 10th with Biola ahead 7-4.
San Marcos managed to score the international tiebreaker runner from second base, but that would be all as Biola survived for its 26th win of the season.
The Eagles earned their first doubleheader sweep since March 9 vs. Holy Names. They improved to 26-8 on the season and now have a week-long break until they host Simpson University (13-13) next Tuesday.
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