Azusa, Calif. - Off to one of the best starts in Vanguard baseball history, the Vanguard Lions swept the four-game season series with the No. 17-ranked Azusa Pacific Cougars with a GSAC double header sweep today at APU. Coming off single header victories at home on Wednesday and Thursday, the Lions traveled to APU for the series-ending double header which was moved up to Friday because of rain predictions on Saturday. Battling the Cougars until the end, the Lions defeated Azusa Pacific for the third day in a row, winning 11-10 in game one and coming from behind to win 16-10 in the nightcap.
Senior team captain Zach Leighton ripped a solo homer to lead off game one for the Lions, but Vanguard's lead was short-lived as the Cougars pounced on Vanguard starting pitcher Javier Perez. Perez pitched three innings, allowing six runs on eight hits and three walks. Three of the runs were unearned against Perez as the VU defense committed an error in the middle of APU's four-run third inning.
Perez handed the ball over to Bryce Reid as the Lions were trailing 6-2 beginning the bottom of the fourth. Although the Cougars jumped on Reid for a pair of runs in the fourth, he lasted into the eighth before being relieved by Mike Anderson, giving the Lions some time to catch up on the scoreboard.
The Vanguard offense chipped away at APU's lead, scoring three runs in the top of the sixth off Cougar starter Ryan Rosenhahn. All three runs scored on Tyson Leighton's third homer of the season, cutting the deficit to 8-5.
The Lions struck big again in the top of the eighth off APU's second reliever Ruben Diaz. Diaz retired the first two batters before VU's Kip Masuda singled to get the Lions started on a two-out rally. As it had happened in the past two days, the Cougar defense opened the Lion cage with a pair of errors and the Lions escaped with a bang. Jason Dovel delievered a big pinch-hit double, Tyson Leighton drove home another, and a Cougar error completed Vanguard's four-run eighth as the Lions took a 9-8 lead.
Anderson, who relieved Reid with one runner on and no outs in the bottom of the eighth, allowed the game-tying double to Ryan Delgado before exiting the jam with a 9-9 score on the board. Anderson would get the win as the Lions tacked on two runs in the ninth with a couple of solo blasts from Brandon Young and Masuda.
The 11-9 lead would be just enough for Robert Purpura, who closed the game out on the hill for Vanguard. Purpura recorded the first out before the Lions made a couple of errors to give the Cougars some hope. Virgil Chavira singled home APU's unearned run, but it was not enough as Purpura recorded the final out for his second save of the season.
The seven-inning nightcap turned into a similar story as the Cougars charged to a 5-0 lead off Vanguard starter Adrian Mendoza. Mendoza fell victim to the long ball as Josh Leite crushed a grand slam in the first and Jason Plowman launched a solo shot in the second inning for the hosts.
Vanguard responded with four runs in the top of the third inning off APU's Cameron Ross. Keegan Freeman doubled to left to begin VU's rally, but Ross hurt himself with a throwing error, a hit batter, and a walk. The Lions took advantage of each Cougar miscue and cut the lead to 5-4.
Trailing 6-4 in the top of the fifth as Mendoza allowed another solo homer to the Cougars in the bottom of the fourth, the Lions pulled even for the first time in game two on RBI singles by Erick Krzysiak and Freeman off APU reliever Tim Lu.
Mendoza entered the bottom of the fifth with a chance to earn the win, but he could not shut down the Cougar offense. Two doubles sandwiched around an intentional walk put the Lions in an 8-6 hole and brought on relieving pitcher James McGeary for Mendoza. McGeary did his job but a VU error allowed the Cougars one more run, leaving the Lions trailing 9-6 as they came to the plate in the top of the sixth.
The Vanguard sixth proved to be enough to capture the sweep as the Lions sent 14 batters to the plate and scored 10 runs on six hits, two errors, and three walks off three APU hurlers. Billy Hamilton and Brandon Young had two RBIs in the inning, and Krzysiak, Jacob Wood, and Zach Leighton, all added RBI-hits. The 10-run frame pushed the Lions into a 16-9 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth.
McGeary gave up another solo shot to Plowman to slice the lead to 16-10, but Peter Birdwell came in to work a scoreless seventh inning to complete the victory and the sweep over the Cougars.
In today's slugfest, the teams combined for 47 runs and 54 hits, including 10 homeruns. The four-game sweep this week puts the Lions in first place in the Golden State Athletic Conference with a perfect 4-0 conference record.
The Lions, now 12-1 overall, will return to the diamond on Wednesday, when they host The Master's College in another mid-week GSAC match up. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m. in Costa Mesa.
