SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — Vanguard University hit the road and headed to The Master's University to compete in one of the final Golden State Athletic Conference series of the season. The Blue and Gold opened the series with a loss against the Mustangs, falling two runs shy of the GSAC foe. TMU took hold of the lead early and fought off the Vanguard efforts after the Pride tied the contest in the seventh inning. The Pride drops to 25-20-1 overall and 20-11 in conference play while TMU improves to 23-19 on the season and 15-16 in GSAC.
Vanguard put three hits away in the first inning and scored once. Tanner Perry (SR/El Cajon, CA) dribbled down the left field line and advanced to third on a sac-bunt hit by Josh Weeks (SO/Murrieta, CA). Shane Elias-Calles (SR/Mission Viejo, CA) scored Perry with a single to right field, and Michael Fuchs (SR/Irvine, CA) mimicked the hit with his own single to right. TMU fired back in the bottom of the frame and took the 2-1 lead, building upon it in the second frame. The game entered a standstill until the seventh inning as the Pride put a tie game on the board. Sam Neufeld (JR/Indio, CA) lead off with a double, and Joe Johnson (FR/Medford, OR) and Lucas Martinez (SR/Fairfax, VA) flied out and grounded out respectively. With two outs on the board, Perry singled and took advantage of an error to advance. Neufeld also took advantage of the error and scored. Julio Rivera (JR/Puerto Rico) made an appearance in the inning as a pinch hitter and delivered a double to left field, scoring Perry. Elias-Calles singled, but was tagged out at third to end the inning. TMU respond with three runs to break the tie and jump ahead, and held off the Lions in the eighth. Likewise, the Pride kept the Mustangs scoreless in the bottom of the eighth inning and looked to rally in the top of the ninth. Kody Wright (JR/Bakersfield, CA) pinch hit and walked, and Elias-Calles was hit by a pitch, advancing Grady Conner (SO/Costa Mesa, CA), who pinch ran for Wright. The Lions saw a pitching change, but adjusted quickly. A pair of walks loaded the bases, then caused Conner to score. With bases still loaded, the Blue and Gold hoped to rally, but struggled to make moves and fell to the Mustangs.
Jordan Dreibelbis (SR/Las Vegas, NV) pitched seven innings and gave up 10 hits. Dreibelbis threw five strikeouts and walked four batters on 35 batters faced. Jakob Farmer (FR/Norwalk, CA) relived Dreibelbis in the eighth inning, and faced three batters. Vanguard matched TMU's 10 hits on the day, with Perry recording three of the 10. Perry also scored twice and logged one RBI. Elias-Calles went 2-for-3 at the plate while Fuchs, Chris Rodriguez (JR/Tustin, CA), Neufeld and Johnson each recorded one hit a piece.
Next Game: Saturday, April 14th at The Master's University at 12:00 p.m.
-GOLD PRIDE-
