Costa Mesa, Calif. - February rain continues to be a pain for the Vanguard Lions baseball team. Rained out on Wednesday, the team was anxious to try to get back into action as the Lions hosted Arizona Christian University in the first of a scheduled three-game series. Playing throughout a cold, windy, rain soaked afternoon the teams battled until the game was called due to darkness after eight full innings of play. Coming from behind in the top of the eighth inning, Arizona Christian nipped the Lions 2-1 to put an end to a miserable, chilly, wet day at VUSC in Costa Mesa.
The game started out as a pitcher's duel between VU's starter Jason Dovel and ACU's Trey Schneider, who posted zeroes on the board for the first five innings of play. Dovel gave up a leadoff double to Garrison Hensley to begin the day, but allowed only a harmless single and three walks through seven scoreless innings. Meanwhile, Schneider set down the first five Lions he faced and scattered three hits and a pair of walks while striking out four VU batters.
Vanguard finally broke the scoreless tie with a couple of back-to-back hits by Jacob Domingos and Brandon Young. Kyle Hardman, who was hit by a pitch to begin the inning, was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a double by Domingos. However, Young singled to center to score Domingos and give the Lions a 1-0 lead heading into the top of the seventh.
Dovel maintained the 1-0 lead and returned to the hill for the top of the eighth inning where he struck out the first two batters he faced. However, Dovel walked the next two batters to put the go-ahead run on base. The Lions brought in lefty Gabriel Garcia from the bullpen and he was greeted by a single to left from David Madrigal to load the bases. Catcher Nick Covyeau stepped up to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded and took the opportunity to become a hero for the visiting Eagles. Covyeau's two-out single to center was enough to drive home the tying and go-ahead runs, giving ACU a 2-1 lead as the Lions came to bat in the bottom of the eighth.
ACU sent reliever Jared Courtwright to the mound to face the Lions in the bottom of the eighth inning and he promptly retired the first two batters on ground outs. Domingos drew a walk from Courtwright, and Young reached on catcher's interference to put two on with two out for VU pinch-hitter Jerry Pena. Pena's foul pop up was snagged with a sliding catch by ACU's third baseman just before it hit the fence to end the inning.
Unfortunately for the Lions, the game was called due to darkness at the completion of the eighth inning, clinching the 2-1 win for ACU.
ACU, improving to 8-11 overall, was out-hit 5-4 by the Lions but Schneider walked away with the win and Courtwright earned the save for the Eagles.
Five Lions had one hit apiece, including Young's RBI single, and Dovel took the loss despite an overall solid performance on the hill. He drops to 0-2 with today's decision and the Lions slip to 4-6 overall.
Rainfall picked up after the conclusion of the game and into the evening, forcing the cancellation of tomorrow's double header matchup between Vanguard and ACU. The games will not be rescheduled.
