Costa Mesa, CA---Chalk two more up in the win column. Vanguard's baseball team continues to roll in 2010, as the Lions dropped visiting San Diego Christian College 5-1 and 3-2 on Thursday afternoon in Costa Mesa. VUSC has now won 12 of the past 13 games, and has proven to be among the best teams in the conference in the early spring.
As has become the custom for the Lions' first game of the week, Coach Ralph Grajeda sent left-hander Brandon Godfrey to the mound in game one. Godfrey entered the contest with a record of 3-0 and an outstanding 0.74 ERA. One of four captains on the team, the southpaw did not disappoint, keeping the San Diego offense guessing for most of the game.
The Lions got on the board first, in the bottom of the third inning, facing Hawk pitcher Ranulfo Grijalva. Senior
Keegan Freeman walked, advanced to third on two passed balls, and scored on a
Corey Kohnke sacrifice fly.Vanguard added to the lead in the sixth frame, using four singles, a walk, and a SDCC error to score four more runs and take a 5-0 lead.
Godfrey did not give up an earned run in his seven innings of work, and allowed only two Hawk hits to earn his fourth win of 2010.
Ryan Pauly and
Jordan Oseguera combined to throw the final two innings, giving up one earned run on one hit. Grijalva took the loss for the SDCC. The Lions outhit San Diego 10 to 3, allowing the hosts to overcome four errors.
Vanguard starter
Jason Dovel was nearly as impressive in the second contest of the day. Once again, the Lions took the first lead of the ballgame, this time in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Zach Leighton started the game with a walk from SDCC pitcher China McCarney. Leighton advanced to third, and with two outs, Zach's brother Tyson stepped to the plate. The younger Leighton roped a McCarney offering off the left field wall for a double, scoring his sibling and teammate. After Billy Hamilton was hit by a pitch, Freeman delivered a single that scored
Tyson Leighton and gave the hosts a quick 2-0 advantage.
The Lions scored another run in the third, as second baseman
Brandon Pesante walked and was advanced to second, and then brought home by a Zach Leighton double. The three-run lead was solid enough for Dovel, who looked sharp once again on the mound. The lefty scattered six hits, and only gave up one earned run in 7.1 innings pitched. The southpaw ran into trouble just twice in his time on the bump, and was able to get out of both jams, with help from reliever
Peter Birdwell.
The first incident was in the top of the fourth inning, when Dovel gave up back-to-back doubles to SDCC, scoring the Hawks' first run of the game. Then in the eighth inning, SDCC loaded the bases with just one out, and Grajeda decided to pull Dovel in favor if Birdwell. Birdwell struck out SDCC's Mike Bando, but the Hawks scored a run on a passed ball to cut the VU lead to 3-2. However, Birdwell settled down and got Brian Charnock to fly out to end the threat.
McCarney took the loss for the Hawks, who were defeated despite outhitting the hosts 8-5 in the second game. San Diego dropped to 1-9 in conference, 1-12 overall, with the two losses.
Dovel improved to 3-0 with the win, while Birdwell earned the save, pitching 1.2 innings. VU improves to 18-2 on the season, including an incredible mark of 9-1 in the GSAC. The Lions have continued the program's remarkable turnaround from a season ago, when VU did not earn its ninth conference win until March 26. The Pride will head down south to El Cajon to face the same Hawk team on Saturday, and will play two nine-inning games starting at 11:00 a.m.
