NAIA
BASEBALL RECAP

Escobar went 8.1 innings, striking out 5 and walking none while picking up his 11th win in 12 decisions this season. Escobar tired in the ninth, surrendering 3 of the 8 hits he allowed to account for the Vanguards’ lone run of the game. Junior Eric Fuller came on in relief to pick up his first save of the season, getting Terrick Clark to foul out to first and Kevin Doyle to ground out.

The Mustangs got all the runs they needed in the fifth. With 1 out, Fuller, who was also the designated hitter, singled to center. Freshman Ty Sager doubled him to third. With first base open, Vanguard pitcher Bryce Primm opted to pitch to No. 9 hitter Luke Kollman, who lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Fuller. Sopho-more Kurt Fillmore (2-for-3, 1 RBI) then lined a 3-2 pitch to left to score Sager and put the Mustangs up 2-0.

The Master’s added an insurance run in the eighth when sophomore Rob Avila led off with a single, stole second base on a botched pick-off attempt, was sacrificed to third base and then scored on sophomore Chris Kollman’s single to center.

SCC, which led off the fourth and eighth innings with back-to-back singles only to have both threats thwarted, again led off the ninth with back-to-back singles by seniors Greg Schrieber and Kevin Moore (2-for-5). It appeared Escobar was going to strand the Vanguards again, getting No. 5 hitter Eric Booth to strike out looking. However, Escobar hit senior Joe Rivera with a pitch to load the bases with 1 out. After following off 6 pitches, sophomore Ryan Dambach singled to left to score Schrieber and pull SCC to within 2 runs with the bases still loaded and 1 out. Fuller, though, came in and doused the fire.

With the win, The Master’s improves to 34-8 and will play the Azusa Pacific/Concorida winner (tonight at 7 p.m.) on Friday at 3 p.m. SCC, which falls to 22-22, meets the Azusa Pacific/Concordia loser at 11 a.m. on Friday. The eventual sectional champ advances to the NAIA West Regional (May 8-12) in Caldwell, Ida.