IRVINE, Calif. – The Concordia University Irvine baseball team salvaged a split with Biola on Friday afternoon, thanks to a balanced offensive attack and solid performances by pitchers Alex Zalasky and Morgan Brannock.

After dropping the opener, CUI rallied from a 4-0 deficit to stun Biola 7-5 in the nightcap.  CUI snapped a five-game losing streak with the victory, and improved to 13-13 in PacWest play.

Game One: Biola, 13, Concordia 3

The Green and Gold fell behind 2-0 early but responded in their half of the first frame.  First, shortstop Haloa Dudoit led off with a single up the middle. Two batters later, Jair Donovan followed with a base hit to put runners on the corners before Matt Lautz brought Dudoit home with a RBI single.  Lautz leads the Eagles with a .367 batting average and also has scored a team-leading 41 times.

Bailey Collins launched his second home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth. The two-run shot with Lautz aboard trimmed the Biola lead to 8-3.

Concordia's offense strung together some hits but Biola's batters were even more locked in at the plate.  The visiting Eagles rapped out 18 hits against Concordia and took the first contest, 13-3.

Eagle Eye: Collins finished game one 2-for-4 at the plate with a homer and 2 RBI.
 
Game Two: Concordia 7, Biola 5.

After CUI fell behind 4-1, Collins smacked a two-run single in the bottom of the third to jumpstart the offense.  Cooper Moore added a clutch two-run double to push the Green and Gold ahead, 5-4.

Alex DiMascio got the start in left field and helped the cause with a single up the middle in the bottom of the sixth. DiMascio also displayed some heads up base-running by promptly stealing second base. He advanced to third on the errant throw by the catcher and then proceeded to score minutes later on a wild pitch to stretch CUI's lead to 6-4.

Alex Zalasky worked 8.0+ innings on the mound, allowing five runs and ten hits. He gave up four runs in the first two innings before settling down and holding the Biola batters off the scoreboard until the ninth.

"The first two innings, I was really leaving pitches up and they were hitting some balls hard," said Zalasky. "So I really just focused on keeping the ball down and executing. I'm a contact (pitcher) guy and the guys behind made a lot of special plays. They've been doing that all year."

Lautz backed Zalasky up with a nifty sliding catch in shallow field to close out the top of the fifth.  Jair Donovan was also very busy out in right field chasing down a handful of fly balls that tried to find space in the gap.

"We were hunting for energy on the mound all day long," explained CUI head coach Joe Turgeon. When he was able to get competitive down in the zone, it created more energy for our defense, it created more energy for our offense and we started getting that momentum and that confidence and it's just contagious. (Zalasky) turned it around. I was very proud of him and I'm just proud of our team the way they've been battling all year."

Zalasky cruised into the ninth inning before giving up a leadoff solo homer to Biola's Jackson Collins. Brannock came in to get the final three outs and ultimately worked out of trouble by leaving the bases loaded to end the game.  In the process, Brannock notched his team-leading fourth save of the year.  Zalasky improved to 5-5 with the victory and also struck out four batters.

"We were on the mat for awhile so it was important to find our way back and end up in the win column," added Collins.

Eagle Eye: Cooper Moore went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. Zalasky was solid on the mound and gave the bullpen a rest by eating up innings. Zalasky got better as the game progressed, posting six consecutive scoreless innings to keep the visitors at bay.

On Deck: The Green and Gold host Biola again on Senior Day on Saturday, April 27.  It will also be a "Code Yellow" for both the baseball and softball teams on campus. Both doubleheaders begin at 12 p.m. with a tailgate for fans and students starting at 10:30 a.m. behind right field. For more details for the Senior Day/Code Yellow festivities, click here.

For the full CUI baseball schedule, click here.