LINCOLN, Calif. – The Vanguard baseball team suffered a couple of agonizing losses to William Jessup at McBean Park on Saturday, squandering late leads in 7-4 and 9-8 setbacks.
The bullpen faltered in both games as solid outings from starters Dylan McDonald (JR/Pacifica, CA) and Jesus Munguia (SO/Anaheim, CA) were wasted. The losses dropped Vanguard's record to 37-10 overall and 20-8 in Golden State Athletic Conference play. The Lions entered the day needing two wins to pull within a game of first place Westmont, which is idle this weekend.
The Lions must now sweep Westmont at Dean Harvey Field in the final GSAC series on April 22-23 to have any hope of winning the conference regular season title. Hope International is also in the mix to win the crown.
William Jessup, aiming for one of the six spots in the upcoming GSAC Tournament which runs May 2-5, improved to 22-23 and 11-17 in league play. The Warriors are currently sixth in the conference standings.
What Happened? Game 1: – The Lions looked to build upon the momentum from Friday's doubleheader sweep of the Warriors and appeared to be in good shape with a 3-0 lead through five innings.
VU placed three runs on the scoreboard with a productive second, highlighted by an RBI single from shortstop Travis Aversa (SR/Fountain Valley, CA) and a two-run bomb by catcher Luke Arias (JR/Spring Valley, CA).
McDonald compiled a career-best eight strikeouts in five scoreless innings. The right-hander scattered five hits and walked three. The Warriors had multiple runners on base in four of those innings, but each time McDonald registered key outs, including inning ending strikeouts in the first and fourth.
However, the Lion bullpen couldn't maintain the lead as four hurlers gave up at least one run between the sixth and seventh innings.
Quincy Vassar (JR/Brewster, WA), who had a 2.07 ERA over his last five outings, allowed an uncharacteristic four runs in his one inning of work. Kawaiola Takemura's RBI single and Nicholas Hadd's bases clearing double led to a four-run sixth for the Warriors as they took a 4-3 lead.
The seventh yielded three more runs for the Warriors against three Lions pitchers. Toby Welty (SR/Colorado Springs, CO) gave up a leadoff single to Dustin McElwain and was replaced by Tyler Armenta (SR/Anaheim, CA). Armenta gave up a single to Kayde Iranon but retired the next two hitters on fly outs. Caden Byers (FR/Murrieta, CA) looked to get VU out of trouble but issued a walk to Takemura to load the bases.
Unfortunately, Kevin Gutierrez and Hadd had other ideas as consecutive singles scored all three runners for the 7-4 edge.
VU had gotten back one run in the top of seventh on an Adam Stevens (JR/West Linn, OR) solo home run, his second of the season.
The VU bullpen allowed nine hits over three innings and Hadd had a monster day at the plate for the Warriors, finishing 2-for-2 with 5 RBIs off the bench.
Five different Lions recorded one hit, as Arias went 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs.
Game 2 – The Lions controlled the entire game, but could not record the final three outs as William Jessup exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take the improbable 9-8 comeback win. The VU offense produced four home runs in the losing effort.
Jesus Munguia's bid to go to 9-0 on the season was spoiled as the right-hander pitched well enough to win, giving up seven hits and four runs (two earned) in 6.0 innings of activity.
Munguia gave up an unearned run in the first and an RBI triple to Hadd in the third, but the Warriors still trailed 3-2 after three.
The Lions created that deficit after scoring a run in the second and two more in the third. Oscar Diaz (SO/Los Angeles, CA), who finished 2-for-4 with 4 RBIs, delivered an RBI single in the first.
In the third, Joe Johnson (SR/Medford, OR) cranked his 10th home run of the season over the right field fence ahead of Aki Buckson (SR/Silverdale, WA), who had walked and stolen second base.
Munguia limited the WJU bats to a pair of singles from the fourth through sixth innings, and watched the offense rampage for a run in the fifth and four more in the sixth.
Johnson went deep again in the fifth with a two-out solo shot to dead center as the Lions took a 4-2 lead. It was the first baseman's fifth career multi-homer game, and his 11th of the season. The 11 home runs tied his total from the 2021 campaign.
The Lions seemingly put the game out of reach with more long ball exploits in the sixth. After Kevin Miser (SR/Ridgefield, WA) and Travis Aversa got aboard via walk and hit by pitch, Diaz drove in three with a mammoth shot to right center, his third of the season.
Matthew Land (SR/Eugene, OR) followed with a line drive home run over the right field fence for an 8-2 lead.
Munguia started the seventh seeking the complete game victory. However, Iranon homered to lead off the inning, and Jorge Perez's pinch hit double chased Munguia from the game.
Still, with an 8-3 lead, the Lions were tasked with getting three more outs to end the game. Jackson Webber (SR/Bothell, WA) got the ball and immediately walked pinch hitter Logan Coe. Takemura's grounder was muffed by the VU third baseman, allowing pinch runner Noah Takayama to score and trim the deficit to 8-4.
With two runners still aboard, Gutierrez hit a three-run homer to left as the Lions now clung to an 8-7 lead. Webber fanned Hadd for the first out, but the Warriors kept the pressure on with a single and a hit by pitch.
Jacob Morales (JR/Arcadia, CA) entered to try to nail down the save, but McElwain's single tied the score at 8-8. Iranon followed with his third hit of the game, a double to right center, which scored Connor Lane for the walkoff victory.
The Lions hit six homers across the two games. Johnson finished game two going 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored and 3 RBIs. Buckson stole three bases to increase his GSAC-leading total to 34.
Why Is It Important?: The twinbill defeat marked the third and fourth times VU has let leads slip away that resulted in losses during conference play. However, the Lions have either tied or won each of their previous seven GSAC series.
What's Next?: Vanguard hosts Westcliff on Wednesday, April 13 at 2:30 p.m.
