LA MIRADA, Calif. – The Concordia baseball team split Friday's doubleheader against Biola University, maintaining third place in the PacWest standings with a 12-6 conference record. Biola ranks fourth in the standings just behind CUI with a conference record of 9-6.
 
 
Game 1: CUI 10, BU 1
 
The Green & Gold dominated both sides of the ball in their first matchup of the season against Biola. Starting pitcher Evan Larsen earned his second win of the season after striking out eight batters in 5.0 innings while only allowing one earned run. Larsen has 20 strikeouts in his last two appearances and ranks fifth in the conference in strikeouts with 66 on the season.
 
Carpenter Pagett entered the game out of the pen in the sixth inning, and proceeded to give the most dominant performance of his career. The Thousand Oaks native struck out a career-high eight batters in 4.0 innings, all while not allowing a single baserunner. Pagett also struck out the side in the ninth to secure his first save of the season. He is now one save behind Andrew Soto (15) for second place on the CUI all-time saves list.
 
With pitching dominating the Biola bats, the offense only needed to score two runs to win – but instead they blasted their way to double digits. Led by home runs off the bats of Richard Castro, Jackson Collins, and Shane Wallace, the Eagles gained the lead in the second inning and never looked back. Patience at the plate allowed runners to get on base, as the team recorded a season-high 13 walks. This, paired with multi-hit performances from Kevin Fowler and Michael Dixon, led the Eagles to their second-largest win margin of the season.
 
 
Game 2: CUI 5, BU 17
 
Unlike the dominance they experienced in game one, CUI struggled to gain momentum in game two. Five pitchers toed the rubber, with all but one giving up multiple runs.
 
Starter Matt Des Marets ran into some trouble in the bottom of the first inning, allowing five runs to score. This would allow Matthew Williams, Tristan Perrin, Grant Stuart, and Carson Quintana to all get some work in out of the bullpen. Stuart supplied his second longest outing of the season, going 3.0 innings while striking out three. Quintana threw a scoreless eighth, striking out two while allowing two hits in his fourth outing of the season.
 
The CUI bats connected a few times in game two, recording four extra base hits. Two of those came from Castro, who recorded a double in the top of the second inning. He then followed that with his is team-leading seventh home run of the season in the top of the sixth inning for his second of the day. An inning later in the seventh, Michael Mira launched a ball to deep left field for a no-doubt home run, which is also the first hit of his collegiate career.  
 
The Green & Gold were able to make some noise in the top of the ninth when Biola's pitcher surrendered three consecutive walks to push a run across. However, it was not enough to kickstart a comeback and the game concluded with a score of 17-5.
 
Concordia returns to Eagles Field tomorrow, April 9^th, for a doubleheader beginning at 2:00 PM. After Saturday's games, CUI will only have four remaining home games on the season; that being a doubleheader against Azusa Pacific on April 15^th as well as Senior Day versus Point Loma on April 29^th.

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