By Josh Banker
04/16/09
Sea Lions Slip Past Never-Say-Die Vanguard
 
Reid started on the mound for VUSC |
 
Manzano led VU with 3 hits |
 
Krzysiak homered for the 1st time this year |
 
Halstead had 2 hits for the Lions |
Costa Mesa, Calif. - Fourth-ranked Point Loma Nazarene got everything it could handle and more Thursday afternoon holding off a furious ninth inning comeback by Vanguard to edge out an
11-10 victory.
Trailing 11-6 going into the bottom of the ninth and with the prospect of facing closer Steven Winnick and his team-leading seven saves, Vanguard (16-22, 11-19 GSAC) got an RBI single from Mario Romero and a two-run single from Derek Craddock to narrow the gap to just two.
After loading the bases with just one out, Jacob Wood's bouncer to third got an unassisted out there but plated the run and still gave the Lions a chance with the tying run on second and the winning run on first with two outs. Winnick, however, would buckle down to get Keegan Freeman on the same fielder's choice to thwart the Vanguard comeback and move the Sea Lions to 31-9 overall and 24-6 in the GSAC.
Davis Koenig (2-0) got the win for the Sea Lions going 3.1 innings of relief before giving way to seldom-used Jason Swen who dug in and allowed just two hits with one walk and three strikeouts in three shutout innings before giving way to Winnick in the ninth for the Sea Lions who have taken three out of four from Vanguard this season.
Leading 8-6 in the top of the eighth, PLNU took advantage of the Lions' fifth error of the day to plate three runs on an RBI single by Kurt Steinhauer and a two-run single from Travis McCleary to give Point Loma what seemed to be an enormous five-run lead.
Catcher Eric Krzysiak smacked his first homer of the year in the bottom of the fifth inning to knot the score at six for the Lions, but Vanguard managed just two more hits in the next three innings before the excitement of the ninth.
Richard Jessup (3-5) took the loss in relief of Bryce Reid for the Lions giving up five runs on just four hits though only two of the runs were earned.
That was the story of the day for Vanguard as the Sea Lions took advantage of every one of the Lions' five errors and scored a total of six unearned runs on the afternoon.
First baseman Joshua Manzano led the Vanguard attack at the plate going 3-for-4 at the plate while Keegan Freeman and Brett Halstead also had two hits apiece.
McCleary led the way for the Sea Lions with three RBI while Steinhauer joined McCleary as the middle of the Point Loma went a combined 7-for-13 with five RBIs and three runs scored.
Vanguard returns to the diamond Saturday at noon in Azusa for a GSAC doubleheader with the No.14-ranked Azusa Pacific Cougars.Â
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