Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - Oakland, California
Sunbirds take two to complete sweep

Game 1 box score / Game 2 box score

Oakland- A doubleheader sweep by the Sunbirds put them on the winning side of things. Game one ended 5-3 and the pitchers duel in game two ended 1-0.

In game one the Sunbirds didn't start off to hot as they gave up three runs in the bottom half of the first inning, but those were the only runs the Lions would manage to put on the board for the rest of the day.

Pitcher Antone Ontiveros came in relief to pitch seven innings of shutout ball. In those seven innings he recorded six strikeouts while only giving up four hits.

The bats would come alive in the top half of the fifth inning for the Sunbirds as they erased the goose egg with their first run of the day.

Down by two, the Sunbirds put together a three run fifth inning, which allowed them to take the lead and never look back. After retiring the side in the bottom half of the eighth they would come back to add salt to the wound with another run in the ninth.

Ontiveros continued his dominate performance on the hill in the home half of the ninth inning to seal the 5-3 victory for the Sunbirds.

Three Sunbirds recorded a multi hit game along with producing RBI's. Aaron Lynn lead the way going 3 for 5 at the dish and tallied two RBI's. Thomas Raymundo and Casey Padgett each went 2 for 4 and knocked one run across the plate apiece.

Game two was a pitchers duel and junior pitcher Jordan Keener was not to be out done. Keener put on a marvelous performance with his complete game shutout and 12 strikeouts. He also only allowed the Lion's to scrape up two hits.

The bats for the Sunbirds were kept silent as well, but they did just enough in the first inning to get the win.

Anthony Lowell got on board with a single and then made his way around to third by snagging two bases. While on third, Justin Keeney would single to bring Lowell across the plate.

The lone run was all Keener needed to pitch the Sunbirds to their second win of the day.

"We played well, but still left some men on base." said head coach Oscar Hirschkorn. "Our pitching and defense was excellent and allowed us to play 14 innings of shutout baseball, which is huge."

With the win, the Sunbirds record improves to 2-2. They will be back in action when they host California Baptist for the first baseball game ever to be played at FPU Field. The first pitch is slated for 11:00 a.m.

"I'm glad we came up here to play these games," said Hirschkorn. "It allowed us to play through some tough situations and prime up for Saturdays game against Cal Baptist."

For more information on Lions' baseball click here

Updated Records
Lions- 0-11
Sunbirds 2-2