COSTA MESA, Calif. – Vanguard doused the Firestorm over the weekend in Golden State Athletic Conference baseball action, sweeping its Arizona Christian series 3-0 to move to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in league games.
The Firestorm took an early lead in the first as senior Richard Perry (Fontana, Calif.) surrendered a two-run homerun to ACU senior Trevor Santor.
A solo shot from junior Taylor McKnight (Mission Viejo, Calif.) put the Lions on the board in the second and an inning later VU deadlocked the game at 2-all by way of a John Collins' (Fallbrook, Calif.) lead-off double and a Greg Younger (Bakersfield, Calif.) RBI single to center.
After seven innings of work and five strikeouts, Perry was relieved by junior Marshall McKinnon (Los Gatos, Calif.) who tossed two scoreless innings for The Pride.
Vanguard rallied in the bottom of the eighth, starting its run with back-to-back singles from senior Nick Rodda (Santa Rosa, Calif.) and freshman Brandon Sandoval (Fallbrook, Calif.). With Rodda on third, the speedy Sandoval stole second to put two in scoring position for senior Thomas Mobley (Anaheim, Calif.).
Mobley demonstrated his worth in the clutch next as he roped a double up the middle to give the Blue and Gold a 4-2 lead as both of his teammates crossed the plate.
McKinnon closed the effort on the mound and garnered the win to move to 1-0 on the year. He struck out three ACU batters in two innings of work for VU.
Sandoval tallied a game-high three hits for the Lions. The freshman left-fielder went 3-for-4 with a run scored and stolen base in the win.
"I think a lot of our success this year can be credited to team chemistry," Sandoval said. "We are very focused as a whole on one goal and we always believe in each other. We all try to do the necessary work that it takes to have success by taking extra reps at practice and in the cages and we are always focused on the task at hand."
Junior Scott Torrey (Simi Valley, Calif.) started the nightcap for Vanguard and threw three scoreless frames before his teammates put a run on the board in the fourth to provide some security for their hurler.
Mobley picked up another single in the fifth, which junior Bret Collins (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) followed with a double. Senior Ian Sakry (Long Beach, Calif.) walked to load the bags next and McKnight did his job, putting a sacrifice fly into the air to bring Mobley home.
The Firestorm brought the contest to 2-1 in the sixth, but could not comeback on the hot Lions.
Torrey was dominant in his complete game performance, recording six strike-outs, walking no one and allowing just four knocks on the day. Torrey has two wins on the year for Vanguard.
Five Blue and Gold batters (Rodda, Mobley, B. Collins, Schwer, Younger) notched a hit apiece in the affair.
Vanguard will host Univ. of Redlands on February 4th at 2:00 pm before traveling to Santa Barbara for a three game series versus the Westmont Warriors over the weekend.
-GOLDPRIDE-
