LA MIRADA, Calif. – After dropping the first game of the day, the Corban University baseball team bounced back in a big way in the nightcap, defeating Biola University (Calif.) to earn the twinbill split. Biola's pitching staff shut down the Warriors in a game-one 4-1 victory for the Eagles, but Corban's offense broke game two open en route to an 8-2 non-conference triumph.
"We had a real-well pitched game against Biola in game one," said Corban head coach Jeff McKay. "Sometimes you have to tip your cap to the opposition. It was a very tight game, well-pitched with good defense on both sides."
In the opener, Biola scored in the first to take a 1-0 lead, but Corban tied the game in the second frame when Benjamin Liogon recorded an RBI groundout.
After that, the Warriors were unable to get any sort of offense going while Biola tallied one run in the fourth and two runs in the sixth en route to only allowing three Corban hits for the game.
In game two, Jackson Smith propelled the Warrior offense early on with an RBI single to score Ryan Rosas in the third. Then in the fourth frame, Corban exploded for five runs to make it a 6-0 ballgame. Tyler Reitz, Josh Ebert, and Ryan Rosas all registered RBI hits in the big inning.
Biola pulled a pair of runs back in the bottom half of the fourth, but after that, neither team scored again until the eighth inning when Kyle Kilian blasted a long ball over the left-field fence, scoring Reitz on the play to make it an 8-2 game and seal the deal for the Navy and Gold.
"It was really nice in game two to play from ahead big early," said McKay. "We had our largest single inning of the season. Kerr, Henry, and Reitz were solid on the mound, and senior Austin Marsh got this first hit of the season coming off the bench."
Kilian finished the game 2-for-4 at the dish with two RBI and two runs scored. Rosas also tallied a pair of hits in the triumph with one RBI and one run scored, while Reitz notched a pair of hits with two runs scored with one RBI.
On the mound, Caleb Henry earned the win, tossing four innings of relief while allowing no runs and no hits while striking out three. Thomas Kerr also had a good outing in the start, throwing four innings of two-hit baseball while allowing two runs and striking out four. Reitz came on in the ninth to finish the game off, allowing no hits and striking out one.
"We are looking forward to playing more, but the rain may have something to say about that," said McKay. "We really enjoyed competing again against a Christ-centered University."
Corban (6-5) is scheduled to return to the diamond tomorrow against Biola (8-4) at 10 a.m. in order to try to beat the impending rainstorm en route for southern California. Stay tuned at CorbanWarriors.com for any updates to the upcoming schedule.
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