AZUSA, Calif. — Biola University saw its season come to a surprising end on Thursday afternoon in a 12-6 loss to Concordia in an elimination game on the third day of the NAIA Region II Tournament at the Cougar Baseball Complex in Azusa.
Biola, the No. 3 seed in the regional tournament, ends its season with a 35-17 record after the upset loss to Concordia, which narrowly made it into the tournament as the No. 6 seed. CUI had pulled an upset yesterday, defeating No. 5-seed California Baptist in 10 innings.
It was nearly a carbon copy of Biola’s loss to Fresno Pacific on Wednesday as Concordia jumped out to a quick lead with four runs in the top of the first. Biola then closed the gap to one run, but CUI was able to pull away late for the win.
Senior pitcher Josh Baas got in trouble early as Matt Ross hit a three-run home run in just the fourth at bat of the game. Cameron Bayne added the fourth run of the inning with a single to right to put Concordia up 4-0.
Biola got a run back in the top of the second as David West belted his fifth home run of the season. Baas settled down after the first inning and allowed just two hits over the next three innings but the Biola offense was unable to get to Concordia starter Derek Bondo.
Baas’ hit a bit of a wall in the top of fifth as Nick Fuentes and Cody Kissel hit back-to-back home runs to lead of the fifth inning and give Concordia a 6-1 lead.
Biola then began to work its way back into the game, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Hawkins Gebbers hit an RBI-double to make it 6-2, then Kris Cook followed with a sacrifice fly. With runners on the corners, David West then drove a double over the head of the Concordia leftfielder. Nick Rotkowitz came around to score easily from third but Gebbers was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first making the score 6-5.
But that would be as close as Biola would get as Concordia erupted for six runs in the top of the seventh inning. The inning started off with an error on Baas, then a ground out and an RBI-single by Ross. That would be it for Baas as junior Tim Nolan was called upon to try to stop the bleeding. But Nolan struggled mightily, allowing four runs on four hits while walking two and recording just one out.
Freshman Kyle Atkins was summoned from the bullpen and struck out Kissell to finally end the seventh inning. Atkins wound up pitching the final 2-1/3 innings of the game, allowing just one hit and walking a batter while striking out three batters.
Biola would score one final run in the bottom of the sixth inning as Pace recorded an RBI single, but it would be too little too late for Biola.
Baas ends the season with a 6-3 record while Bondo improves to 23-20 and advances to face No. 2 Fresno Pacific in another elimination game at 7:00 p.m. The winner moves on to the regional championship game against No. 1 Azusa Pacific, needing to beat the Cougars twice on Friday to take the regional crown.
Despite recording 12 hits, the game today marked the first time in 27 games that junior Nick Rotkowitz failed to record a hit, snapping his school-record 26-game hitting streak. Junior Hawkins Gebbers went 3-for-5 to lead Biola’s offense while junior David West went 2-for-5 with a home run. Junior Chris Foreman and freshman Brent Opdyke also collected a pair of hits in the game in four at bats.
Biola reached the NAIA Region II tournament for the sixth-straight time this year, the longest active streak of any team in the region. Biola won the title in three of those season, advancing to the NAIA College World Series on each occasion.
Note(s): Now the the season is over it is time to get at it. The time starts now to get ready for next season.
Workout:
Back Squat @ 225#
5-5-6-6-5-3
3 rounds of:
30 Meter Walking Lunge forward and backward
then:
5x2 Knee jump @ no weight
3x10 Jump squat @ no weight
4x5 Tuck jump
4 rounds of:
10 GHD BB sit-up @ 45# BB
10 GHD Press @ 30# right hand
10 GHD Press @ 30# left hand
10 KTE
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