SANTA CLARITA, Calif. -- With game two finished Saturday morning, Vanguard baseball soldiered on with games three and four against The Master's. VU and TMU flipped-flopped the race to 12 runs, as the Mustangs claimed game three 12-7 and the Lions won 12-6 to conclude the Golden State Athletic Conference series. Vanguard returns home with a 25-5 overall record and a GSAC record of 9-3, with TMU sitting at 17-12 overall and 7-9 in the conference.
What Happened? G1: Zachary Jimenez pitched a strong opening three innings for the Mustangs, sending the Lions back to the dugout quietly. Having picked up the save in the conclusion of game two, Dylan McDonald (JR/Pacifica, CA) continued working as the starter for game three. He got two quick outs in the bottom of the first but was then rocked by back-to-back home runs to push The Master's ahead 2-0. In the bottom of the third, McDonald beaned the leadoff hitter, who then stole two bases and came home off a sac-fly to increase the lead for TMU to 3-0.
The Lions reset themselves in the top of the fourth and clawed back into the contest. With two outs, Dane Nakatsuka (JR/Laguna Niguel, CA) took a walk and got to second on a past ball. Chad Sutton (SR/Scottsdale, AZ) then took a walk. bringing up Cameron Hirahara (SR/Grover Beach, CA), who bashed a home run to make it 3-3.
Tyler Armenta (SR/Anaheim, CA) then checked in for the Blue and Gold and quickly worked through the bottom of the fourth. But the Mustangs figured him out in the bottom of the fifth, as TMU put four runs on the board. A single and a double started the rally, with a pop-up scoring the first. The hosts then powered their third home run of the day over the fence to make it 6-3, with another double later in the frame putting the Mustangs ahead 7-3 in the five-hit inning.
The Master's pushed the gap again in the bottom of the seventh against Toby Welty (SR/Colorado Springs, CO), who had replaced Armenta late in the fifth. A two-run home run and a double later on sent TMU ahead 10-3. The Mustangs then tagged on two more in the bottom of the eighth against Bryce Barnett (SO/Laguna Niguel, CA) from a sac-fly and a single.
The Lions were able to get some positive energy going to end the game, as Matthew Land (SR/Eugene, OR) drove in Luke Arias (JR/Spring Valley, CA) off a single and Joe Johnson (SR/Medford, OR) caught the home run bug, blasting a three-run shot to bring the deficit to 12-7, but TMU recorded the next two outs to take the win.
Vanguard had seven runs on seven hits with seven runners left on base. TMU had 12 runs on 17 hits, stranding six aboard. Jimenez went five innings to get the win, striking out four, while Armenta takes the loss to fall to 4-2. He had two strikeouts and four earned runs in 1.2 innings of work. McDonald had four Ks over the first three innings. Johnson drove in the most runs with three, and Johnson and Hirahara each had two hits to lead the team.
G2: Spencer Long faced off against the Vanguard lineup in game two and he only allowed a single to Aki Buckson (SR/Silverdale, WA) in the top of the first inning, but he was then caught stealing to end the frame. Reigning GSAC pitcher of the week Jesus Munguia (SO/Anaheim, CA) was on the mound for VU and he put the Mustangs down in order in the first as well.
The weather favored the hitters all day and VU took advantage in the top of the second. A one-out walk was issued to Sutton and he got to second on a groundout by Oscar Diaz (SO/Los Angeles, CA). The second out did not phase Kevin Miser (SR/Ridgefield, WA), who launched a home run to put the Lions ahead 2-0. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Travis Aversa (SR/Fountain Valley, CA) then battered his own homer to make it back-to-back deep shots for a 3-0 Vanguard lead.
Munguia kept the home side quiet in the second and third, which allowed the Blue and Gold to get going again in the top of the fourth. Diaz took a two-out walk and then stole second. Miser gladly took a walk and Aversa flashed a single to right to bring in Diaz, with Miser getting to third. Hirahara took a pitch off the body to load up the bases, with a wild pitch scoring Miser to increase the advantage to 5-0.
The Mustangs finally solved a little bit of the puzzle that Munguia was throwing, getting a single and a double to score TMU's first run of the day. A groundout a few batters later scored one more to make it 5-2 but Munguia got the following hitter to lineout to Johnson at first to escape the predicament.
More home runs followed to start the fifth, as Johnson and Buckson went back-to-back again for the Lions to negate the runs from TMU and restore a five-run lead at 7-2. Buckson also drove in a run in the top of the sixth, as he hit a deep fly ball that brought home Elijah Weeks (SR/Murrieta, CA) to increase the lead to 8-2.
Munguia had the first two batters of the bottom of the sixth reach base on singles but a double play, though it scored a run, helped the inning come to a quick conclusion, as he got the third out on another ground ball soon thereafter.
The offense put the game out of reach in the top of the seventh, as Sutton started the frame by reaching on an error. Adam Stevens (JR/West Linn, OR) pinch-hit for Diaz and he sent another home run over the fence to put VU ahead 10-3. Miser then walked and Antonio Omphroy (JR/Honolulu, HI) doubled to the left-field corner to send Miser to third. Ian McIntyre (JR/Tempe, AZ) pinch-hit as well and he followed Omphroy's example by doubling to left to cap the scoring for VU and put the lead to 12-3.
Jacob Morales (JR/Arcadia, CA) recorded two quick outs in the home half of the seventh but had to work hard to end the game after that. A double scored one run and a couple of singles scored two more to increase the pressure on the starter. But a lazy fly ball to center was snagged by Nakatsuka to secure the 12-6 win for VU, with the Lions winning the series 3-1 in the process.
VU had 12 runs on 11 hits, stranding six runners on base. TMU had six runs on 13 hits, one error, and six runners left on base. Munguia goes to 6-0 on the season, as he recorded four strikeouts and one walk in six innings. Long takes the loss and falls to 3-2, as he managed only two innings of work. Aversa and Buckson led the team with two hits each. Aversa, Miser, Stevens, Buckson, and McIntyre each had two RBI. Five home runs in a game is potentially a new school record, with the program having notched four home runs four times in 2010.
What was said? "Super competitive weekend overall," said Head Coach Rob Pegg. "The guys were resilient and found a path to victory."
What's Next? The next GSAC series will be next Friday and Saturday (March 18-19) in Arizona, as Vu will face the Firestorm of Arizona Christian for four games.
