Lions ride surprise starter

Vanguard University junior pitcher Chris Lumanlan wants to convince folks that his seven shutout innings in the Lions’ 3-1 Golden State Athletic Conference home baseball victory over No. 6-ranked Westmont on Wednesday was just another day at the yard.

Don’t you believe him.

Just another game of baseball, Lumanlan said afterward — involving players who train daily to perform on a diamond upon which they have competed since around the turn of the millennium.

But when the No. 18-ranked Lions gave the ball to the 6-foot, 170-pounder who had logged just 9 2/3 innings in seven previous appearances (all in relief), it was hardly expected that he would scatter five hits and exit with a 1-0 lead.

Those odds would not have exactly been enhanced by the fact that Lumanlan, who sat out 2015 to rest a right arm weary from two seasons at Irvine Valley Community College, would be pitted against the reigning NAIA Pitcher of the Week, who just, you know, tossed a little thing they call a no-hitter in his previous start to improve to 6-0.

And when asked to consider that it had been 705 days since Lumanlan had last thrown at least seven collegiate innings, and it was more than a year previous to that when he blanked an opponent for more than five innings, Lumanlan’s take on the matter would further strain credibility.

“I just reminded myself that I was here with my team that can back me up no matter what,” Lumanlan said about learning Monday he would get the start against Westmont ace Daniel Butler. “Realistically, there was no need to freak out. We do this every day and it was just another game.”

Vanguard Coach Rob Pegg said he tabbed Lumanlan to start in the crucial series opener against the Warriors (23-5, 13-3 in conference) in order to give senior ace Sean Isaac another day to rest.

Isaac, 7-1 with a 2.23 earned-run average and 79 strikeouts in 60 2/3 innings, worked eight innings on Friday to earn a GSAC victory against Menlo.

“We’ve been using him in long relief and he has done a good job,” Pegg said of Lumanlan, who improved to 2-0 and lowered his ERA to 1.08. “We were looking for another guy to come [into the starting rotation] and he seemed like the best option. You are pretty excited when a guy does that against the sixth-ranked team in the country. He’ll get a chance to start again.”

Lumanlan, who struck out three and walked one, did not allow a runner past first base the first four innings. He pitched out of a jam in the fifth created by Alika McGuire’s leadoff double.

Westmont put its first batter on base in the sixth and seventh innings also, but Lumanlan was up to the challenge.

Vanguard turned a pair of double plays, one of which came on one-third of the multiple assists involving a ground ball caroming off the pitcher’s glove and being fielded by a middle infielder. The ricochet double play also glanced off the base umpire’s body, after ticking off Lumanlan’s glove and before it was scooped up by second baseman Sam Neufeld.

“The wind was blowing in, so all [Lumanlan] had to do was throw strikes and let them hit it,” Vanguard catcher Kevin Bettencourt said. “And he mixed it up pretty well.”

Senior Michael Ostrea pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Lions (22-7-1, 12-4), for whom senior Michael Jordan, who allowed on run in the ninth, nailed down his ninth save.

Vanguard opened the scoring in the fifth, when senior first baseman Matt Harris opened with a booming double to left-center field.

Neufeld, who was two for three to lead the Lions’ five-hit attack, followed with a single and, after a strikeout, Brandon Sandoval walked to load the bases.

Justin Vega’s bouncer to first was slow enough for Harris to score from third to give the hosts the lead.

Two errors (a catcher’s interference call and a booted ground ball), and a bases-loaded balk, helped Vanguard score twice in the ninth to pad the lead.

Alex Bush doubled and Jarret Costa singled to open the ninth for Westmont, which has not been blanked all season. Bush scored on a groundout for the second out, and Jordan ended the game with his second strikeout, giving him 20 in 17 2/3 innings this season.

“That’s an outstanding win,” Pegg said after the Lions pulled within a game of Westmont for the GSAC lead. “That’s a momentum-changer right there.”

The two teams conclude the three-game series with a doubleheader on Thursday at Vanguard, beginning at 11 a.m.

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Golden State Athletic Conference

Vanguard 3, Westmont 1

SCORE BY INNINGS

WMT 000 000 001 – 1 7 3

Vanguard 000 010 02x – 3 5 0

Butler, Rishwain (8) and Costa; Lumanlan, Ostrea (8), Jordan (9) and Bettencourt. W – Lumanlan, 2-0. L – Butler, 6-1. Sv – Jordan (9). 2B – McGuire (W), A. Bush (W), Harris (VU).