AZUSA, Calif. -- Vanguard could not pick up a win against the Cougars of Azusa Pacific in the Pacific West Conference baseball series that concluded on Saturday. VU gave itself a good chance in game one, as the Lions led 3-0 after free frames, but the squad could not hold on. APU scored 12 unanswered runs the rest of the day, swinging game one in their favor 5-3 and taking the second contest 7-0. VU dropped to 8-10 overall, 4-8 in PacWest play, while APU improved to 9-9, 7-5.
What Happened? The Blue and Gold struck for two runs in the top of the first thanks to a
Fred Buckson single and a towering home run by
Josh Schleichardt to push the Lions ahead.
Jake Hiner surrendered a pair of singles in the bottom of the first but he found his footing after that, as the VU starter fanned four and did not give up a hit over the next three innings.
Levi Hall gave him an extra dose of help in the top of the second as he launched a home run into the right-field corner to increase the advantage to 3-0. However, things began to slide the other way in the bottom of the fifth.
APU scored one run off a couple of ground outs and then tied the contest in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run double. A sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh gave the Cougars their first lead of the game at 4-3 and a home run in the bottom of the eighth to mostly put things away. The Lions were held to only one hit after the top of the third, which was
Tristan Gallegos single in the top of the ninth. VU made it interesting in that period, as the squad loaded up the bases after the Gallegos hit, with
Noah Madole and
Angel Perez taking back-to-back walks. Unfortunately, two strikeouts followed to close out the game.
Jaxson Davis went 2-for-4 to pace the lineup from the leadoff spot. Hiner had four Ks and left after 5.1 innings pitched and did not factor in the decision.
Christopher Ceballos took the loss to fall to 0-2 and recorded two strikeouts.
The twin bill saw the Cougars carry their energy to a big 7-0 win and the sweep. Vanguard had singles from Davis and Madole and walks from Gallegos and
Tyler Shigenaka, but only Shigenaka made it past first base. Casey Spencer fanned six on 72 pitches over six innings of work to keep the Lions at bay.
Chris Paruleski had four Ks but gave up six runs, five earned, over his four innings of action.
Jacob Morales had three strikeouts and
Dylan Henson kept a clean frame in the bottom of the sixth
What's Next? Vanguard will be hoping the offense can cook at home as VU has the next 14 games on the Dean Harvey Field. The long home stand kicks off with a four-game set against Fresno Pacific, with the first doubleheader coming on March 7 at 11:00 a.m.
