Cougars pounce on Lions

Bryce Alderton

A hard-throwing pitcher while on offense combined with their own

defensive mistakes equaled a frustrating Friday afternoon for

Vanguard University baseball players.

Junior right-hander Jason Ray struck out 14 -- eight looking --

and allowed four hits in 8 2/3 innings to lead visiting Azusa

Pacific University to its ninth win in 11 games following a 6-1

Golden State Athletic Conference victory over the Lions, who

committed five errors.

Left-handed reliever Zach Pettikas induced a fielder’s choice

groundout with Lions on first and second to seal the victory for Ray,

who retired 13 in a row before Vanguard leadoff hitter Isaac Salazar

began the bottom of the ninth with a walk.

Ray, who improved to 2-0, limited the Lions (9-10, 5-5 in the

GSAC) to all singles, two in the third from Todd Merz and Aaron

Barret and two in the ninth from Nikolaus Crouch and Mike “Buck”

Grant.

Crouch and Grant’s hits came back-to-back with two outs after

Cougar catcher Stephen Vogt threw out Salazar trying to steal second

on strike three to Luke Iverson.

Vanguard hitters found themselves trying to catch up to Ray’s

fastball, which reached 96 mph, while looking off-balance against a

curveball that often found corners of the plate.

“He would throw fastballs and worked away,” Vanguard third baseman

Travis Westerfeld said. “We had the wrong attitude at the plate. We

hit well sometimes, but it didn’t fall. We had hard-hit balls, but

they were right at people.”

Westerfeld said Ray brought the most “velocity” of any pitcher the

Lions, who had won four of five before Friday’s loss, faced this

year.

The Lions found themselves playing catch-up after a four-run third

inning gave the Cougars (10-7, 5-2) a 5-0 lead. Two runs were

unearned.

With one out, an error on Azusa senior Jeff Stanliand’s grounder

gave the visitors a 3-0 lead.

The Cougars scored twice with two outs on singles from James

O’Neill and Chris Cardinale, who each finished with two hits. O’Neill

singled to right field and took second when Matt Voorhies bobbled the

ball. Cardinale, who homered over the right-field fence in the second

inning, then singled home O’Neill.

“At times we look great and other times we make two or three

errors in an inning,” Vanguard first-year coach Scott Mallernee said.

“We have to make the routine plays.”

Isaac Salazar, who entered with a team-leading 24 hits in 65

at-bats (.369), brought in Todd Merz on an RBI groundout in the third

for Vanguard’s lone run. Merz singled, took second on a wild pitch

and reached third on a single by Barret.

Senior right-hander Brent Erickson fell to 2-2 after allowing five

runs on nine hits while striking out six in 6 2/3 innings for the

Lions.

“In no way was it his fault [in the Cougars’ four-run third],”

Mallernee said. “If we make a play, we’re only give up one run.”

The Cougars didn’t commit an error behind Ray, who walked two.

Throwing the curveball for a strike was the key to keeping the Lions

off-balance, Azusa Coach Paul Svagdis said.

“If you get the curveball over for a strike, it makes it tougher

to hit [the fastball],” Svagdis said. “Now, they can’t sit on the

fastball every pitch.”

So what does Vanguard need to do when the same teams meet in a

doubleheader that begins at 11 a.m. today to attain more success?

“Keep the bat on the ball more than anything and make routine

plays,” Mallernee said.

Svagdis said the conference format of three games in two days

makes it necessary to have more than one quality starting pitcher.

Vanguard reliever Robert Klein struck out two while allowing two

hits and walking none in 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of

Erickson.

Golden State Athletic Conference

Azusa Pacific 6,

Vanguard 1

Score by Innings

*--*

APU 0 1 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 6 11 0

VU 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 4 6

*--*

Ray, Pettikas (9) and Vogt; Erickson, Klein (7) and Grant. W --

Ray, 2-0. L -- Erickson, 2-2. 2B -- Vogt 2 (AP). HR -- Cardinale

(AP).