Lions falter twice

SANTA CLARITA — Fewer than 24 hours after its strongest performance of the season, the Vanguard University baseball team could do little right, and nothing better than The Master’s College.

The result was a dominant doubleheader sweep by the host Mustangs, who topped the No. 9-ranked Lions, 18-0, in Game 1, then rallied for an 8-1 triumph in the second game in Golden State Athletic Conference play Saturday.

The two losses, combined with a pair of one-run victories by first-place Westmont over visiting Biola on Saturday, leave the Lions (35-12-1, 20-7 in conference) three games behind Westmont with three conference games remaining.

But forget about the magic number. The Lions were absent any signs of the magic that propelled them in winning Friday’s series opener at TMC (31-15, 16-11).

There was, however, plenty of magic for the Mustangs, who became the first team to sweep Vanguard in a doubleheader this season. TMC is also the only team to win a weekend series from the Lions, accomplishing the feat twice. Vanguard has lost two in a row only three times this season, twice at the hands of the Mustangs, who gave veteran coach Monte Brooks, career wins No. 600 and 601 at the school on Saturday.

“I just give a lot of credit to [the Mustangs],” Vanguard Coach Rob Pegg said. “They were dialed in. They shoved it [from the mound] and they shut us down. In my opinion, they can’t play any better than they did today, in all aspects of the game.”

The Mustangs posted a 29-11 advantage in hits in the two games, and hit five home runs as a team, two each by senior third baseman Nick Covello (seven runs batted in for the day) and senior first baseman Collin Nyenhuis.

A three-run home run by freshman right fielder Aaron Shackelford capped a seven-run first inning in the opener. Three innings later, the hosts put another seven-spot on the scoreboard, with the key hit being a three-run bomb by Nyenhuis.

Covello and Nyenhuis now each have 12 homers for the season, matching teammate Michael Sexton for team-high honors.

Vanguard took a 1-0 lead in the second game, when senior third baseman Trai Patrick’s triple to the left-center-field gap drove home junior left fielder Brandon Sandoval, who had singled to start the inning.

But the Mustangs countered in the fourth inning when, after the first hitter reached on a fielding error by Vanguard second baseman Sam Neufeld, Covello followed by launching a 3-2 pitch from starter Tyler Steele over the fence in right-center to spark a five-run inning.

“The error and then the home run that followed were really deflating,” said Pegg, whose team committed all four errors in the two games.

Steele, a freshman left-hander who entered the game 9-0, allowed five runs, only one of which was earned, before exiting 3 2/3 innings. He struck out five, walked two and surrendered five hits.

Senior starting pitcher Ryan Heinle worked just one inning and was tagged with the loss in the opener, during which Sandoval and junior right fielder Brock Eissman were two for four to lead a six-hit attack.

“It’s a growing thing,” Pegg said of the 16-inning devastation [the second game of GSAC doubleheaders are seven innings]. “That’s the margin. I told our guys they are in a situation where they have to play well or they are going to get beat. It’s whoever blinks first and [the Mustangs] didn’t blink at all today. We blinked a couple times and it got ugly.”

Vanguard would need to sweep a three-game series at home against Biola next weekend, and also have Westmont lose all three at Menlo to gain a share of first place. In such a scenario, Vanguard would be the top seed in the GSAC Tournament, on the basis of having won two of three from Westmont in conference play.

The Lions, however, can do no worse than second place, its best regular-season conference finish since it finished second in 1993.

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Game 2

The Masters 8, Vanguard 1

SCORE BY INNINGS

VU 001 000 0 – 1 5 1

TMC 000 503 x – 8 9 0

Steele, Lumanlan (4), Sheehan (6) and Bettencourt; Co. Menez, Savage (7) and Sheaffer. W – Co. Menez, 8-2. L – Steele, 9-1 . 2B – Sandoval (VU). 3B – Patrick (VU). HR – Covello (TMC) 2.

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Game 1

The Master’s 18, Vanguard 0

SCORE BY INNINGS

VU 000 000 000 – 0 6 3

TMC 701 701 02x – 18 20 0

Heinle, Silbermann (2), Johnson (4), Camacho (6), Arriaga (8) and Wright; Lohse, Winslow (8) and Jarrod, Ca. Menez (7). W – Lohse, 7-3. L – Heinle, 6-3. 2B – Sandoval (VU), Jarrod (TMC), Covello (TMC). 3B – Van Horn (TMC). HR – Shackelford (TMC), Nyenhuis (TMC) 2.