The Cal Baptist righty entered the contest with a record of 10-2 on the season, and a terrific 3.39 ERA. Yet Vanguard had gotten to Madrigal nearly three weeks prior to today's matchup, scoring six runs in just five innings of work on April 22 in a 16-3 Lion win. That boost of confidence helped VU start the contest with a swagger at the plate.

 

All-GSAC catcher Eric Krzysiak led off the ballgame with a walk, and Brandon Young followed with a single. Tyson Leighton sacrificed both runners up one base, and Zach Leighton scored Krzysiak on a groundout. With two outs and one on, Madrigal walked back-to-back Lions to load the bases for Jake Domingos. The VU left fielder smoked a Madrigal offering to center, scoring two and giving VU an early 3-0 lead. The Lions weren't done however, as Billy Hamilton singled to score Keegan Freeman from second. After a base knock by Brandon Pesante, Krzysiak had another crack at Madrigal and took advantage, singling up the middle to give the Blue and Gold the 6-0 lead out of the gate.

 

Vanguard notched another run on the board in the second off CBU reliever Jesse Arreola, on a Kip Masuda RBI double that scored Tyson Leighton, who had walked to start the inning. Faced with nearly the same position as the Lions found themselves in just 20 hours prior, Vanguard started reeling once again. Lion starter Brandon Godfrey, the VUSC ace for most of the season, found himself in trouble in the bottom of the second inning.

 

After giving up consecutive singles to start the frame, Lancer second baseman Cole Bullard crushed the third pitch he saw over the leftfield fence to trip the Vanguard lead to 7-3. Godfrey settled down to get two of the next three batters, but the VU lefty then walked Garrett Rau to put two men on base for Brian Sharp. Sharp singled off Godfrey to score a fellow Lancer, and then Sharif Othman and Zach Hedges followed with RBI singles of their own to cut the Lion advantage to 7-6.

 

Electing to go to the bullpen after Godfrey got in trouble again, VU Coach Ralph Grajeda brought in Lance Abbott to face the Cal Baptist offense. However, Abbott did not fare much better, as the Lancers put an eight-spot on the board, aided by a Matt Dougherty grand slam, to take a 14-7 lead heading after three innings of play.

 

Vanguard tried valiantly to get back in the game from the dish, as the Lions added two more runs in the top of the fifth. Yet CBU answered again, scoring three in the bottom of the frame to build a 17-9 advantage. Bryce Arroyo notched his second hit of the ballgame to score Jason Dovel from second to pull the Blue and Gold into double digits in the sixth, but that was all the Vanguard offense could muster up.

 

After a stalemate seventh frame, the Lions could not get a runner across the board in the top of the eighth, which might have altered the game. Instead, the Lancers unloaded on Vanguard pitching, scoring eight runs before the VU defense could record an out. All in all, California Baptist scored nine runs in the eighth, and silenced the Pride bats in the top of the ninth to seal the dominating win.

 

Godfrey took the loss for VUSC, while Arreola picked up the win. Vanguard was outhit for the second straight game, 22-16. CBU also drew 11 walks from the Lion staff in the win.

 

California Baptist moves on in the double-elimination GSAC tournament, as the Lancers improve to 42-12 on the season. Vanguard falls to 32-18 with the difficult loss, and will take a wait-and-see approach to learning the Lions' fate regarding the NAIA National Tournament. Depending on the national ranking VU earns in Wednesday's poll, the Blue and Gold could still earn an at-large berth to the tournament. Check back to the Vanguard website at a later time for more information.

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