Riverside, Calif. - The Golden Eagles baseball team dropped all three games of a 3-games series to #16 Benedictine University, this weekend. La Sierra fell 1-5 and 4-10 in Friday's doubleheader, before losing 14-17 in Sunday's high-scoring finale. The losses drop the team's record to 5-16 in Cal Pac play and 9-21 overall.
Friday, April 5
BENU def. La Sierra, 5-1
In what started out as a pitcher's duel, the Redhawks broke through with a run in the top half of the 5thinning. Then added three more runs in the 7thwhich was enough to secure the victory. Benedictine's pitching held the Golden Eagles to just three hits in the game, while giving up one run in the 8thinning. The Redhawks finished with five runs, on 10 hits, including three homeruns, in the win.
BENU def. La Sierra 10-4
Benedictine quickly took control of Game 2, by scoring a total of six runs after just three innings of play. In similar fashion to Game 1, the Redhawks starting pitching held the Golden Eagles hitless through the first five innings of play. In the 6thinning, La Sierra finally posted three runs to cut the lead to 7-3, but that would prove to be as close as they would get, before eventually losing by the 10-4 final score. Andrew Lundstrom finished with two of the team's six hits and was the lone Golden Eagles player with multiple hits in the game.
Sunday, April 7
BENU def. La Sierra, 17-14
In the final game of the series Benedictine scored at least one run in all but two of the nine innings played. It was the Golden Eagles who held their first lead of the series, 2-1, at the end of the second inning. But that lead was short-lived, as the Redhawks scored 16 runs over the next six innings. Yet the Golden Eagles weren't about to go down without a fight, as the team scored eight runs in the 7thinning and four runs in the 8th, cutting the lead to just three runs. La Sierra had the tying run at the plate in the bottom half of the 8thinning but were unable to climb any closer. Benedictine finished the game with a 19-6 advantage in total hits with both teams sharing defensive struggles with a combined five errors in the game. Justin Wear and Lundstrom each tallied two hits in the game, with Lundstrom leading the team with three RBI's, followed by Wear's two RBI's, and Kash Mattson's two RBI's. Nick Salinas also had a hit which resulted in driving in two runs in the loss.
The baseball team will play their final three home games of the season this coming week, when they host Providence Christian College, Thursday and Friday. Thursday's single game is set for a 12pm start, followed by a Friday doubleheader, starting at 11am.
