LINCOLN, Calif. – Opening the 2020 season with a challenging series against No. 14-ranked William Jessup, the Corban University baseball team dropped the first two games of the four-game set on Friday. The reigning Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) Champions did the bulk of their damage in the early innings, as Jessup scored four runs in the first inning of its 6-1 triumph in game one, and five runs in the opening frame of its 9-0 victory in game two.

"It was good to get on the field and compete today," said head coach Derek Legg. "They were not the results we were looking for, but a lot of good things happened today."

Jackson Arnsdorf got the ball for Corban in the season opener, settling down nicely after the tumultuous first. Jessup's Mike Shoenberger landed the biggest blow of the opening stanza, smashing a three-run homer to give the hometown squad an early advantage.

Arnsdorf would only allow only one other hit in his outing, exiting after four innings of work.

Trailing by four after one, Brendan Rodegerdts helped the Navy and Gold scratch one back, driving in Josh Ebert with a two-out RBI single to left in the top of the second.

Back-to-back base hits off Jadon Meador in the fifth eventually led to an RBI sac fly from William Jessup's Jesus Duran, expanding the lead to 5-1. Shoenberger struck again in the bottom of the eighth, driving home his fourth run of the day with a run-scoring double to left.

The Jessup cleanup man saw the ball well throughout the contest, going 3-for-5 at the dish with four RBIs and a pair of runs scored.

In the end, WJU tallied just one more hit than the Navy and Gold, with the Warrior staff—comprised of Arnsdorf, Meador, and Drew Scherrer—doing well to find a rhythm against one of the NAIA's top offenses.

Marlin Brucato got the win on the mound in game one, delivering six innings of one-run ball.

Jessup again jumped out to an early advantage in the back half of the doubleheader, opening the contest with four-straight hits off Hector Sepulveda, going on to knock the Navy and Gold starter out of the game after two-thirds of an inning. Corban defensive miscues compounded the damage in the early going, causing the squad to look up at a 6-0 deficit after two innings of play.  

From there, both teams were quiet until Jessup blasted a pair of long balls in the sixth. It was again Shoenberger who struck for the first of the two, before Max Modeste tacked on a two-run jack a few batters later.

In a quiet game offensively, Estenio Sede, Nate Cantonwine, and Justin Tow collected Corban's three hits.

The Navy and Gold (0-2) will have an opportunity to bounce back tomorrow, taking on William Jessup at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to close out the four-game series.