LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Sophomore outfielder Vinnie Fayard hit four home runs including a walk-off three-run shot to help Biola fight back from an eight-run deficit to win 16-13 over No. 2 Point Loma Nazarene in a wild GSAC game at Eagles Diamond on Thursday.
The Eagles snap a two-game losing streak and improve to 7-2 on the season and to 1-1 in GSAC play. The Sea Lions, ranked No. 2 in the NAIA Preseason Poll, fall to 9-3-1, 1-1 in the conference.
Fayard was absolutely incredible in the game, tying a school-record with eight RBIs and breaking the existing mark with four home runs in one game. More impressively, his four home runs came in his final four at-bats of the game all after Biola fell behind 10-2 after just three innings of play.
His first two home runs in the game were solo shots, the first coming in the fifth inning and the second coming to lead off the eighth. The second shot cut the gap to 11-5, but it still looked like too little too late.
However, Fayard's third home ran came later in the same frame, capping an eight-run eighth inning which gave Biola a shocking 12-11 lead.
Biola had a chance to end the game in the top of the ninth, but a two-out fly ball was dropped in left field and the Sea Lions took advantage as the next batter tied the game with a single.
After a scoreless bottom of the ninth, Point Loma took back the lead in the 10th on a one-out solo home run by Rashad Taylor to go up 13-12.
The bottom of the 10th got off to a promising start as Brian Loard led off the inning with a double. He would advance to third on a sacrifice bunt and came around to score on a single by Boone Farrington to tie the game. Garrett Leon was than hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with one out and set the table for Fayard.
Despite chants from the crowd to walk him, the Sea Lions pitched to him anyway and made him pay, sending a shot well over the center field fence for the walk-off winner.
Fayard wasn't the only big bopper for Biola in the game as senior catcher Daniel Bodemer went 3-for-5 on the day with a home run, two doubles and three RBIs.
Fayard's final home run capped an impressive rally for the Eagles, who trailed 8-0 after two innings, 10-2 after three and 11-4 after seven. The comeback helped bail out Biola starter Mike Frisina got off to a rocky start but was not helped out too much by his defense. Frisina allowed 10 runs, though just five were earned, on six hits over 2-2/13 innings. He walked four and had one strikeout.
However, the defense just wasn't there early on for Biola. In the first, Frisina should have been out of the inning 1-2-3, but two Biola errors allowed two of the first three batters to reach base and extend the inning. Point Loma took advantage with a five-spot, capped by a three-run home run off the bat of Jeff Fox, his first of the season.
The Sea Lions would add three more in the second inning on an RBI-single by Taylor and an RBI-double by Wes Kartch.
Biola got a pair of runs back on a two-run shot by Bodemer in the bottom of the second inning, but Frisina walked the first two batters in the top of the third and both came around to score on a two-run double by Alex Cameron to stretch the lead back to 10-2.
Neither team did much during the middle innings, with Biola scoring an unearned run in the fourth and getting a solo home run from Fayard in the fifth to make it 10-4. Taylor's RBI-single in the top of the sixth made it an 11-4 game and set up the late inning heroics.
Alex Brueske ended up with the victory despite a rough two innings to improve to 1-0 on the season. Davis Koenig suffered the loss for the Sea Lions, dropping him to 0-2 after allowing four runs in 1-1/3 innings pitched.
The comeback salvaged a split of the first two games of this four-game, GSAC opening series. The two teams will wrap up the series with a doubleheader in San Diego on Saturday (Feb. 27) beginning at 11:00 a.m.
Written by Jeff Hoffman, Sports Information Director. Jenna Bartlo, Media Relations Coordinator, can be reached at (562) 777-4061 or through email at jenna.l.bartlo@biola.edu