MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Vanguard University (40-16) started the day as one of three teams remaining in the Montgomery Bracket held at Harrison Field on the campus of Faulkner University. The third seeded Lions squared off against Texas A&M- Texarkana (33-20) in the first game of the day and earned a chance to play again due to a 14-7 victory. In the nightcap, the Blue and Gold excelled and beat the top seeded and third ranked team in the country, Faulkner University (48-13), by a 5-4 score in walk-off fashion.
When a team's back is up against the wall, their true colors show. Today, the Pride was in a win or go home situation for both games and grinded their way to a pair of victories by playing for each other. Stellar pitching performances, big league level plays in the field, and situational hitting moved the Lions into a one game situation with a trip to Idaho on the line.
"We came out today knowing exactly what we had to do. We knew that it was win or go home for us and we stepped up," Brandon Sandoval (JR/Fallbrook, CA) exclaimed after the dramatic victory.
Vanguard 14, Texas A&M- Texarkana 7
From the jump, the offense was cooking for the Lions. They threw up a three spot in the first inning and never looked back. TAMUT trimmed it to a 3-1 scored and then a 5-3 score at portions, but the Pride had determination in their eyes for all nine innings. A five run inning in the top of the sixth, followed by a four run outburst in the next inning blew open the contest. After a few late scores, the final difference was 14-7.
Ryan Heinle (SR/Stockton, CA) (7-4) repeated his strong Opening Round pitching performance from last season with a 131 pitch complete game win. Justin Vega (JR/Chatsworth, CA), Paul Keating (SR/Oceanside, CA), Brock Eissman (JR/San Clemente, CA), and Sandoval combined for 10-19 hitting with 13 RBI's, nine runs scored, and 11 hits.
Vanguard 5, Faulkner 4
All day the team had been biting at a chance to duke it out with the Eagles again after the loss the day before. Coach Rob Pegg handed the ball to Matt Silberman (SR/Murrieta, CA) (2-1) and he pitched his heart out for his brothers. In 6.1 innings on the hill, he allowed only two runs against a team that has been to the NAIA Avista World Series three straight years. The top set up man and closer in the country guided the Lions home over the final 2.2 innings.
Sandoval further stated, "We came out hot in the first game and were able to move past Texas A&M and move onto the rematch that we all wanted. We played great defense and Matt pitched his heart out for us and after we put up a couple of runs, our confidence carried us throughout the end of the game."
The Lions were the first to strike, in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Sandoval avoided the tag at the plate and scored off a sacrifice fly to right field by Eissman. Itching for more, the squad took advantage of two errors and scored three more runs during their next trip to the plate. The first score came off a single from Sandoval and the final two off a shallow single from Eissman.
Over the course of the sixth through eighth innings, the Eagles of Faulkner scored a run in each frame to trim it to a 4-3 lead for the Lions. Then, with Vanguard needing only two outs to force the final game, FC blasted a huge home run to tie the game. Vanguard's dugout did not flinch as they had the based loaded with only one out punched. Kevin Bettencourt (SR/Modesto, CA), the wall behind the plate for VU, laid down a perfect bunt right as Shane Elias-Calles (SO/Mission Viejo, CA) was sprinting home for the sacrifice squeeze play. The runner was safe to win in walk-off fashion, leaving all fans in attendance stunned at the drama of the ninth inning.
The eight hits tallied by the Lions came from seven different players. Sandoval going 2-4 with an RBI and two scored runs was one of the top two stat lines of the day. Eissman's three RBI's was the other. However, from top to bottom of the roster the squad truly embodied teamwork which showed in the result.
"We trusted each other all day and believed in each other all day," Sandoval went on to say. "We need to bring that same intensity and focus tomorrow if we want to move onto Lewiston. Big teams step up in big games, tomorrow is our day."
The same two teams will play again tomorrow, May 20th, at 9:00 AM with the winner earning the ticket to Lewiston, Idaho for the World Series. This will be the third time Vanguard and Faulkner have squared up in the Regional Bracket with both teams splitting the two contests.
-GOLD PRIDE-
