By Beth Renkoski

04/08/09

Lions Maul Oxy Tigers

Los Angeles, Calif. - The Vanguard Lions headed to Los Angeles today to take on the Occidental Tigers in a nonconference baseball game in hopes of breaking a three-game losing streak. The Lions did so in a big way today, pounding out 15 hits in a 12-1 victory over the Tigers as they rode a solid pitching performance from sophomore southpaw Bryce Reid.

Reid, rewarded with his first start of the season after a solid relief appearance last week, worked the first seven innings on the hill for the Lions. Reid dominated the Tigers with nine strikeouts and allowed just three hits and a walk in his longest outing of the season. The only Tiger run was scored in the sixth when Oxy combined a single, double, and a ground out to deny the Lions a shutout.

The run wouldn't matter though, as the Lions had already established an 11-0 lead with three big innings. Nick Akins supplied a three-run home run in VU's four-run third inning while four different Lions collected RBIs in a four-run fourth for the visitors. A three-run sixth put the game out of reach, but the Lions added an insurance run in the ninth on a solo homer by senior Derek Craddock, his first dinger of the season.

Akins' three-run blast raised his team-leading home run and RBI totals to eleven and 31, respectively, for the season. Keegan Freeman went 3-for-5 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored, while Jacob Wood and Mario Romero added two hits apiece to the Lion attack. Brett Halstead also had a multi-hit game with a run-scoring double and a solo home run. Sophomore Matthew Curtis relieved Reid (1-0) on the mound and completed the game with two hitless innings, striking out four of the seven batters he faced.

Vanguard, now 16-18 overall, returns to GSAC action on Thursday with a rare weekday double header. The Lions host The Master's College in a GSAC makeup game, which was rained out in February. Game one is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.

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