Fresno, Calif. - The Vanguard Lions bounced back from a rough series with Pt. Loma to sweep a GSAC baseball double header from Fresno Pacific. Playing on the road for the first two games of the four-game season series, the No. 13-ranked Lions took 5-4 and 6-5 wins against the No. 19-ranked Sunbirds.
Vanguard used a four-run first inning to charge in front of the Sunbirds in game one as senior team captain Zach Leighton led off the game with a bunt single. A sacrifice bunt by Brandon Young and a Sunbird error on Eric Krzysiak's hit put two runners on with only one out, setting the tone for four consecutive run-scoring singles against FPU starting pitcher Kelyn Schellenberg. Tyson Leighton, Kip Masuda, Jason Dovel, and William Hamilton scattered the Sunbird outfield with RBI base hits to give VU ace Brandon Godfrey a four-run cushion as he took the hill for the first time in the bottom of the first inning.
Godfrey escaped a sticky situation in the first after retiring the first two batters, as the Sunbirds proceeded to load the bases on a single and two walks. However, Godfrey struck out the final batter to strand three Sunbirds and preserve the 4-0 lead.
Schellenberg and Godfrey cruised through the next four innings, posting zeroes on both sides of the scoreboard. Finally, Brandon Pesante worked a leadoff walk against Schellenberg to begin the sixth for the Lions. Moving to second on a sacrifice by Jacob Wood, Pesante scored on a two-out single by Young for a 5-0 Vanguard lead.
Fresno Pacific wore Godfrey down in the seventh though, plating two runs on four hits to cut the lead to 5-2. Vanguard went to the bullpen for the eighth, bringing in Adrian Mendoza to face the hosts. A double by pinch-hitter Michael Rivera set the scene for a two-run homer from Jared Coleman, slicing VU's lead to 5-4.
Threatening unsuccessfully to score in the top of the ninth, the Lions sent senior Peter Birdwell to the mound for the bottom of the ninth. Birdwell quickly took care of business, retiring three straight Sunbirds for his third save of the season.
Game two was also a nail-biter with the hosts taking a 1-0 lead on VU's Robert Purpura on a solo shot by Coleman to lead off the bottom of the first inning.
Vanguard tied the game in the third on an RBI-single by Young, and took a 3-1 lead on a two-run double by Hamilton in the fourth.
An RBI-double by Coleman in the fifth cut VU's lead to 3-2, but the real damage come in the sixth as FPU chased Purpura with a three-run outburst. James McGeary took over for Purpura and squelched the sixth-inning rally before holding the Sunbirds scoreless for the final three innings.
Trailing 5-3 in the top of the seventh, the Vanguard offense got back to work against FPU starter David Hawes. Pesante started things off for VU with a double to left-center and scored on a one-out single by Wood. An FPU error opened the door for the Lions and Krzysiak stepped up with the big hit, rocking a two-run double to put Vanguard in front for good.
McGeary, who hit a pair of batters but did not allow a hit in 3.1 innings of work, earned the 6-5 victory to improve to 4-0 this season.
The Lions totaled 20 hits on the day, including five by Krzysiak, who also scored one and drove in two. Hamilton, Young, and Dovel added three hits apiece in the twinbill and Hamilton topped the Lions with three RBIs on the day.
Fresno Pacific drops to 23-11 overall and 15-11 in GSAC with today's losses. The Sunbirds will travel down to Vanguard for the final two games of the series on Saturday. Game one of the double header begins at 12:00 p.m.
The Lions end the day 28-9 overall and 19-7 in GSAC with today's wins. Vanguard regained sole possession of second place in the GSAC standings as the conference leader Cal Baptist and third place Pt. Loma both lost today.
Game 1 Boxscore
Game 2 Boxscore
