COSTA MESA, Calif. – For only the second time this season, Vanguard (10-2, 3-1) exited the diamond on the losing end. In their GSAC home opener, The Master's College won 4-3. After falling behind by three runs, Justin Vega (JR/Chatsworth, CA)'s home run put them right back in the thick of it. TMC sits at (8-5, 2-2) on the year.
"TMC got a great pitching performance from their starter and competed a little better than we did today," Head Coach Rob Pegg stated. "Tomorrow is another day."
The Pride scored their three runs off only six hits while the Mustangs recorded 10 hits. TMC left three more runners on base and had their batter's strike out four more times.
Master's scored on their four at bat off a single by Sexton. They added addition runs in the second, third, and fourth innings before Vanguard scored. The Lions were just a few feet away from closing it to a 3-2 gap at the end of the fourth inning, but Sam Neufeld (FR/Indio, CA) was called out whole sliding into home plate. Vega contributed the final runs of the contest with a two run bomb to right field in the bottom of the eighth.
Sean Isaac (SR/Redondo Beach, CA) (4-1) ends up on the wrong end of a result for the first time this year. He tossed the first six innings striking out four. Christian Lumanlan pitched two innings with two strikeouts before Michael Ostrea (SR/Buena Park, CA) finished off the game.
Vega said, "Today was a tough loss. Took some time to get our bats going, and in the end it was too late. Sandoval did a great job getting on with two outs, and I just went up to the plate wanting to get the next guy up. I was fortunate to find a pitch to put a good swing on."
The Pride will be right back at it tomorrow morning, February 20th, to finish the GSAC series against The Master's College starting at 11:00 a.m.
-GOLD PRIDE-
