COSTA MESA, Calif. — No. 24-ranked Vanguard University opened a Golden State Athletic Conference series against No. 7-ranked William Jessup University and fell to the Warriors with a score of 1-0. The Blue and Gold stayed within range of Jessup, but could not match their offense. Vanguard drops to 14-13-1 overall and 11-5 in conference play while Jessup jumps to 23-6 on the season and 14-2 in GSAC play.
Head coach Rob Pegg said the game was a classic type of battle. "We knew we had a top-ranked team in the country, a top-ranked team in our conference and knew it was going to be a battle," Pegg said. "They had their number one guy and we had to come out and compete. He did a great job." Despite the loss, Pegg said the Pride did a good job of hanging with the competition. "We were close to matching them. Both pitchers did a good job grinding," he said. "We knew it was going to be a tough day, but we blinked first and they capitalized. We feel confident we can still win the series, so that's all we're focused on right now."
Schuyler Hill (JR/Long Beach, CA) took the mound for seven big innings and kept the game scoreless until Jessup managed to break through the barrier in the fifth inning on a triple hit by Steve Pastora to bring in the walked runner. In total, Hill gave up three hits and one run, walked six batters and struck out 10 on 30 batters faced. The Warrior counterpart threw eight strikeouts during all nine innings pitched for Jessup, creating quite the obstacle for the Pride. Ryan Daugherty (JR/Laguna Niguel, CA) made his appearance in the circle in the eighth inning, walked and struck out three batters on nine batters faced. As a team, the Blue and Gold logged three hits on the day from Tanner Perry (SR/El Cajon, CA), Michael Fuchs (SR/Irvine, CA) and Joe Johnson (FR/Medford, OR). Five Lions were left on base while William Jessup left 11 Warriors stranded. Although the game did not end in the Lions' favor, the team remains confident and ready to continue the series tomorrow.
Next Game: Saturday, March 10th against William Jessup University at 9:30 a.m. (DH)
-GOLD PRIDE-
