FULLERTON, Calif. - After splitting the doubleheader the day before, the 18th-ranked Vanguard University Baseball team (12-2, 3-1) earned two resounding victories over the 23rd-ranked Hope International University (6-6, 1-3). Justin Graves (SO/Irvine, CA) would pitch eight innings, holding the Royals to a .148 batting average while striking out ten batters in game one, a 6-0 victory, while an offensive explosion by the Pride in the second game would earn them a 15-4 victory.
What Happened?
Game One: Isaiah Lee (JR/Santa Ana, CA) would double to center field and Matthew Land (JR/Eugene, OR) would get hit by a pitch to lead off the second inning. Tommy Rodriguez (SO/Yucaipa, CA) would continue his fantastic series so far as he would bring both runners home with an RBI double to left field to give the Lions the early edge. From this point, the game would morph into a pitcher's duel as Isaac Guerrero went four innings while only allowing three hits while striking out five, while Justin Graves would go six innings while only allowing four hits and striking out six batters. The Pride would breakthrough once again as Luke Arias (SO/Spring Valley, CA) would hit his first home run this season in the top of the seventh. Omar Ortiz (SR/Las Vegas, NV) would keep things rolling as he would hit a double to center field with two on and two out to extend the Lions' lead to 5-0. The Lions would tack on one final run in the eighth inning as Isaiah Lee got on with a leadoff single and would score three batters later as Luke Arias singled for his second hit and second RBI of the day.
Game Two: With two on and one out in the top of the first, Omar Ortiz would reach on a fielder's choice to score Travis Aversa (JR/Fountain Valley, CA) from third, but the Royals would immediately counter with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame with a solo shot by Brennan McKenzie. The Pride would take advantage of an error-filled top of the second as they would score three unearned runs to take a 4-1 lead, but an RBI double by Dailin Lee would score two and cut the Royals' deficit back down to one. With two on and one out in the third inning, Tommy Rodriguez would reach third on an error to left field scoring two. One batter later, Kevin Miser (JR/Ridgefield, WA) would hit a deep fly ball to center field that gave Rodriguez plenty of time to reach home, giving the Lions a 7-3 advantage. The offensive explosion would continue on in the top of the fifth for the Pride as they loaded the bases and drew walk after walk before a double by Grady Conner (SR/Costa Mesa, CA) and two singles by Isaiah Lee and Matthew Land would clear the bases; when the dust had settled, the Lions lead had moved to eleven. Conner would hit a solo shoot for good measure in the top of the seventh, but the Royals threatened in the bottom of the frame as they loaded the bases and scored on a wild pitch. Liam Neri (JR/Clinton, CT) would get out of the jam without any further trouble as the Lions earned the win by the score of 15-4.
Why It's Important? The Lions are currently on a three-game win streak and have won five of their last six games. All-time Vanguard moves to 16-10 against Hope International. Nationally, the Lions currently rank in the top five in fielding percentage, hits, runs scored, stolen bases, and batting average.
Top Performers: Joe Johnson (JR/Medford, OR), Isaiah Lee, and Omar Ortiz would go 2-4 in game one as Ortiz would add two RBI. Luke Arias would go 2-3 with a home run to round out things on the offensive end. Justin Graves would pitch eight innings, holding the Royals to a .148 batting average while striking out ten batters to move to 2-0. Grady Conner would go 3-4 with three RBI and a home run in the second game, while Matthew Land would go 3-4 with three runs and an RBI. Landon Riker (SR/Marysville, WA) would round things out, going 2-2 with 2 RBI.
What They Said: Michael Kashou - "Overall this was a great team series. We dropped a tough first game, and really rebounded well as a team and won the next three with a statement. We have great potential, and as long as we hold ourselves to high standard we'll go as far as we want."
What's Next: The start of a four-game series against William Jessup University with game one of a doubleheader coming on Friday, February 26th at 11:00 a.m.
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