COSTA MESA -- Vanguard baseball took a win over Azusa Pacific in game two of Tuesday's twin bill, notching the last conference win over the Cougars, who head to NCAA DIII next season. APU won the first matchup of the day in Pacific West Conference play 5-2, but a wild pitch completed the VU comeback for a 6-5 win later in the afternoon. VU improved to 9-25 overall and 6-22 in PacWest action, while APU went to 22-21, 20-14.
What Happened? Jake Hiner had two scoreless innings to start the meeting, but a home run to left in the top of the third put the Cougars ahead 2-0. The visitors added another tally in the fourth, as a pair of singles and a walk made it 3-0. However, the Vanguard offense got on the scoresheet in the bottom half with two hits.
Jaxson Davis had a quality at-bat, working through seven pitches to generate a two-out single to center field.
James Derflinger followed him to the plate and smacked his own single to center, slicing the deficit to 3-1 as Davis touched the plate. After
Christopher Ceballos delivered a clean stint in the top of the fifth, another run was pulled back by the bats in the bottom half.
Joshua Sur blasted a home run over the fence on the second pitch he saw, and VU trailed 3-2 entering the sixth.
A single started the sixth for APU, and though
Dylan Scott was called in from the pen, another home run extended the APU edge to 5-2, which held for the rest of the contest. The Lions had two runs on eight hits, two errors, and five runners left on base, while APU scored five runs on eight hits and left six on the base paths.
Hiner took the loss and fell to 2-7 with two punch outs in four innings. Davis had a 2-for-3 game to pace the lineup.
Game 2
Tyler Prystajko took the mound for game two for the Blue and Gold, but a leadoff single would soon come home after a stolen base and a failed pickoff attempt. Defensive troubles plagued VU in the third, as the Cougars registered a run after a hit and three errors, but despite that, a single swing brought the Blue and Gold back to within one. This time it was
Bennett Vondrak, as he smoked the first pitch he saw high off the net in left field for his third home run of the season.
However, a pair of runs went to APU in the top of the fourth. A one-out walk was followed by a double, and on the next batter, a throwing error led to a runner coming home to take the Cougars to a 4-1 advantage.
While APU seemed to be cruising, the Lions got a rally brewing in the top of the sixth.
Tristan Gallegos led off with a single, and back-to-back walks to Sur and Davis loaded the bases, with a walk to
Angel Perez bringing in a run to trim the gap to 5-2. A long fly ball did the deed for
Colton Perez, with Sur tagging and scoring on the sacrifice hit to give Perez an RBI. Next up was Derflinger, and
Angel Perez got in a rundown between first and second, which gave Davis a green light to chug home from third to make it 5-4 entering the seventh.
Dylan Henson entered in the top of the seventh and stranded two Cougars on base, and Vondrak took a leadoff walk in the bottom half.
Chase Easter-Hairston pinch ran for him, and after
Tyler Shigenaka took another walk, Gallegos provided a double to the left-center gap. The blast was more than enough to cash in Hairston, which leveled the game at 5-5. Sur was the next hitter, but he did not have to do much, as a wild pitch allowed Shigenaka to scamper home to complete the VU rally for a 6-5 victory.
Each side had six hits, while VU overcame six errors to secure the win. APU left six runners on base, while Vanguard stranded three. Prystajko had four Ks to lead all pitchers in the contest, while
Daniel Rivera had two over two frames. Henson got the win to improve to 3-3. Gallegos went 3-for-4 from the plate to lead the lineup, while Sur and Angel Pere each had two walks.
What's Next? Vanguard welcomes Chaminade to the Dean for a 2:00 p.m. game on Friday.
