Costa Mesa, Calif. - VU Baseball Field - The Vanguard University baseball team doubled their GSAC wins for the season in one day's work with a sweep over Point Loma Nazarene University. The Lions, who still sit behind the Sea Lions in the conference standings, earned a 7-5 win in the opener and clinched the sweep with a 3-1 victory in the nightcap for their first GSAC sweep of the season and third overall.
Senior Gabriel Garcia started on the pitching mound for the Lions in game one, taking on the Sea Lion offense head on with his southpaw delivery. Garcia cruised through the first inning , and thanks to an RBI single from classmate Brandon Young, he returned to the hill with a 1-0 lead in the second. However, the Sea Lions used a leadoff walk, back-to-back singles, and a squeeze bunt to score two runs and claim a 2-1 lead. The Sea Lion lead would be short-lived though as the Vanguard Lions backed Garcia up with a three-run bottom of the second inning. John Collins started the rally with a walk and pinch runner Kyle Willet advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Eric Sanchez singled home Willett, and scored on an RBI double by J.T. Truhett. Hank Yates continued the rally with a single and Sanchez scored on a fielder's choice by Young, VU's RBI leader this season.
Garcia held the visitors hitless the next two innings gave up a single run in the fifth on three Sea Lion hits, but exited the jam, stranding two runners on base. Vanguard once again answered immediately when Collins doubled home Michael Castello in the VU half of the fifth. The Lions tacked on a pair of runs in the sixth, taking advantage of two walks and a crucial throwing error by the Sea Lions to take a 7-3 lead heading into the top of the seventh.
PLNU pulled one run back in the seventh as Garcia experience some momentary wildness that the Sea Lions capitalized on and scored one more run on only one hit. Garcia induced an inning-ending double play to frustrate the visitors and maintain a safe 7-4 lead. VU's lefty pitched a scoreless eighth before handing the job over to VU's senior J.R. Bromberg. Making only his second relief appearance of the year, Bromberg gave up one run on one hit and one error, but secured the 7-5 victory and the save with a game-ending double play.
Garcia (3-3) earned the win with an eight-inning effort, striking out two and allowing four runs on nine hits. Bromberg picked up his first save of the season. The Lions, who were out-hit 10-8, had six different Lions put their name in the hit column while Sanchez lead the Pride with two hits, an RBI, and a run scored.
Bromberg made his team-leading seventh start of the season in game two, returning to the mound to challenge the Sea Lion offense in the seven-inning nightcap. The decision proved to be a good one as Bromberg started strong and held the Sea Lions to a lone single through the first three innings.
Meanwhile, the Vanguard offense got to work right away against PLNU starter Chris Gonzales. Yates doubled to left field with one out and Young smashed his third homer of the year to give the Lions a 2-0 lead.
The Sea Lions cut VU's lead in half in the top of the fourth inning with a leadoff solo shot from Bryan Burkhead, but Bromberg got out of a bases loaded jam later in the inning to preserve the 2-1 lead. The Lions once again responded in the home half of the frame with a walk, a hit, a couple of PLNU errors and an RBI grounder by Nikko Tountas.
Bromberg (2-3), who completed five innings of four-hit ball, earned his second win of the season. Kevin Ponzo relieved Bromberg and held the Sea Lions hitless in the sixth, before earning the save with a scoreless seventh inning, conserving the 3-1 lead and the sweep for the Lions.
Vanguard was out-hit again (5-4) but Young's two-run bomb in the first inning turned out to be the biggest hit of the day. Yates, Alec Rosales and Jordan Mould had VU's other hits in game two, but VU's pitching performances were the keys to the Lions' sweep.
Gonzales, who was charged with all three VU runs, takes the game two loss for the Sea Lions as PLNU drops to 13-18 overall and 6-12 in GSAC.
On the day, Yates, Sanchez, and Young were the only Lions with more than one hit, but the Lions will be looking for a big offensive showing tomorrow as the teams match up again down at PLNU. Vanguard improves to 12-11 overall and 3-9 in GSAC with today's twin win. Tomorrow's double header begins at 11:00 a.m. down in San Diego.
