Fullerton, Calif. - The Golden Eagles baseball team improved to 4-1, in Tuesday's 11-9 road win over #8 Hope International University. La Sierra used a 5-run eighth inning to secure the victory and tallied a total of 16 hits on the night. Justyn Cartzdafner pitched 2 2/3 innings to pick up his first victory of the season. The Golden Eagles played the role of spoilers, in defeating the Royals on a night they opened their new field.
It was a back-and-forth, high-scoring affair for both teams, with La Sierra taking an early 2-0 in the top of the second inning. The team added another run in the third inning, before the Royals tied the score at 3-3 with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the third inning.
The Royals took their first lead of the game with a run in the fifth inning, only to see the Golden Eagles reclaim the lead, 6-4, with three runs in the top of the sixth inning.
The see-saw continued when Hope International capitalized on a La Sierra error to score two runs in the seventh inning, tying the score at 6-6. Once again, the Golden Eagles answered back in a big way by scoring five runs on five hits, with the help of three Royals errors in the half inning. The five runs proved to be just enough, despite the Royals scoring three runs over the final two innings and leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning and stranding another two runners on base on the ninth inning.
Eric Lucero came in, in relief, to pitch the ninth inning and pick up his second save of the season.
Matt Majher had a monster night for La Sierra as he notched four runs batted in, on three hits in five total at-bats. Leftfielder Jake Taylor wasn't far behind as he also went 3-for-5 with three runs batted in, while catcher Nick Salinas matched their hit totals, going 3-for-5 himself. Craig Woolson, David Roman, and Jonny Salinas each finished with one RBI apiece.
The baseball team will return home this weekend for a Sunday doubleheader against Ottawa University – Arizona. Sunday's doubleheader is scheduled to get underway at 11am.
