COSTA MESA, Calif. - The 18th-ranked Lions (4-0) faced a familiar foe as they took on Corban University (0-4) for the second half of a four-game slate against the Warriors. Vanguard won handily in game one by a 14-0 count before surviving a couple of late scares for a 5-3 win in the final game of the weekend.
What Happened?
Game One: The Lions got on the board in the bottom of the first with two on and one out as Joe Johnson would hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Travis Aversa from third. The Pride would break through in the bottom of the third as they loaded the bases with a clutch two-out single by Isaiah Lee, before Grady Conner would clear the bases with a double to right, scoring three. Chad Sutton would hit a towering home run off the netting in left field to give the Lions a 6-0 lead.
The Blue and Gold tacked on four more in the bottom of the fourth behind Landon Riker's RBI double and Isaiah Lee's RBI single. The Lions loaded the bases once again in the bottom of the sixth as Elijah Weeks drew a walk to bring in one before Tommy Rodriguez hammered a double into left to score two more, bringing the score to 13-0
Vanguard would score once more in the bottom of the eight as Omar Ortiz led off with a double and was brought home by a single by Weeks into left field. Tyler Armenta, Justin Graves, and Zach Saufl combined to hold the Warriors to only three hits on the afternoon as Armenta would go five innings, only allowing two hits while striking one batter out.
Game Two: Joe Johnson would capitalize on a two-out double by Aki Buckson in the bottom of the first as his single through the right side would put the first run on the board. The Warriors would tie the game up in the top of the third as they took advantage of an error and an RBI single by Reese Fawley, but the Lions would immediately counter in the bottom of the frame as Johnson hit a rocket into the corner in right to score Landon Riker from second.
Grady Conner would keep things rolling with a single down the line that just narrowly stayed fair to score Johnson from third, and the Lions would take advantage of an error by the first baseman to score two more to push their lead to 5-1. Corban would put two runs on the board in the top of the fourth as Morgan Hostetler tripled to right-center.
The Warriors put two runners on in scoring position in the top of the sixth but Matt Lester came in from the pen and struck out two batters to get out of the inning with no damage done. Liam Neri would close the game in relief as the Lions would earn the series sweep of the Warriors.
Why It's Important? This marks the second straight year that the Lions start the year 4-0; last year it was done against two different opponents. In the 2020 campaign, the Pride swept San Diego Christian for their most season four-game series sweep. Vanguard outscored Corban 34-11, generating 48 hits in the process.
Top Performers: Joe Johnson recorded two hits, two runs, and four RBI on the second day of the four-game series while Grady Conner went 5-7 with four RBI. Aki Buckson went 3-7 with three runs to round things out for the Lions.
What They Said: Matt Lester - "I feel like we came out really strong as a team. It felt like today the energy from our dugout was a lot better and that really helped our pitchers and hitters to kinda stick to an approach. It didn't matter who they threw, they got the job done, and it felt really good to be out there."
What's Next: Friday, February 12th against the University of Saint Katherine for a double-header at 11:00 a.m.
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