Courtesy Masters College Athletics

Costa Mesa, Calif. — The Master’s College baseball team has made a habit of sweeping doubleheaders this year.  Nine of those have led to the greatest regular season in program history.

However, on a day when the Mustangs clinched their third GSAC regular-season championship (2003, 2013) and set a record for conference victories (33-9, 41-10 overall), they didn’t have to bring out the broom.  Instead, they won the regular-season crown with a 5-3, game-one win over Vanguard before the host Lions rallied in the nightcap to edge the Mustangs 5-4.

The championship-clinching win earned the Mustangs the top seed in next week’s (April 30-May 2) GSAC Tournament.

In the opener, the club got another strong pitching performance from one of its vaunted starters, Ty Galloway (Modesto, CA).  The senior righthander went seven innings, scattering nine hits and three runs, two of those earned.  However, he didn’t have a say in the decision, leaving after seven innings with the score knotted at 3-3.

To that point, the clubs had traded runs and leads.  The Mustangs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Jon Popadics (Boise, ID) roped a leadoff double to left field, advanced to third base on a groundout, and scored on Collin Nyenhuis’ (Vista, CA) sacrifice fly to center field.

The Lions tied it in the bottom of the second, using an error and two hits to score an unearned run that made it a 1-1 game.  Three innings later, the Mustangs went back in front after John Brazil (Potter Valley, CA) singled with one out, moved to second base on a Lion error, and raced home on Popadics’ third of five hits, a single to center field.

That 2-1 lead lasted all of half an inning as the Lions sandwiched a single and a run-scoring groundout around a groundout and a wild pitch to knot the game again in the home half of the fifth.  An inning later, a two-out, run-scoring double gave the Lions their first lead of the game, 3-2.

Then, it was the Mustangs’ turn to respond and they did so in the top of the seventh, parlaying a Josh Brown (Valencia, CA) leadoff single, a stolen base, a Sam Robison (San Juan Capistrano, CA) sacrifice bunt, and a clutch, two-out single from Scott Savage (Torrance, CA) to knot the game once again.

The Lions threatened in the bottom of the eighth but Mustang reliever Aaron Alexander (Concord, CA), who had replaced Galloway, wiggled his way out of the jam, stranding two Lions.

His teammates rewarded him for another stellar relief effort but it would take until the 10th inning for them to do so and when they did, it happened quickly.  Halverson reached first base on a bunt single, stole second, and trotted home ahead of Popadics’ home run to left field, his third of an injury-abbreviated season.

Alexander took care of the rest, retiring the Lions in order in the last of the tenth, part of a closing stretch during which he put away the final seven batters he faced, highlighted by a game-ending strikeout that sealed the conference championship for the team.  The sophomore righthander allowed just one hit in three strong innings and improved to 6-1.

Popadics paced the Mustangs’ 12-hit attack in the opener, rapping out a career-high five hits to go along with three rbi.

There were more late-inning heroics in the nightcap.  This time, though, it was the Lions who provided the game-changing fireworks.

After leaving the bases loaded in the first inning, the Mustangs went up 1-0 in the second when Robison ripped a lead-off double to left field, moved up 90 feet on a throwing error, and sprinted home on Halverson’s sacrifice fly to center field.

Two innings later, they extended the advantage to 3-0 and Halverson was in the middle of it again.  His one-out triple scored Tyler Beets (Lakeport, CA), who had reached on an error, and then the senior centerfielder tagged up and came home on Brown’s sacrifice fly to left field.

That three-run lead held up until the bottom of the fifth when the Lions nicked Mustang starter Conner Menez (Hollister, CA) for a run on two hits.  The sophomore lefthander, who had saved Friday’s victory, went five innings, allowing four hits and was in line for his eighth win of the season (7-0 thus far) especially after his teammates got that run back in the top of sixth, taking a 4-1 lead on another Halverson hit, this one a two-out single to center field that plated Robison.

However, with Menez out of the game, the Lions picked on reliever David Carpenter (Oceanside, CA), scoring four runs against the freshman southpaw in the sixth to vault in front 5-4.  That was just enough to gain a split for the hosts as reliever Michael Jordan closed out the Mustangs in 1-2-3 fashion.

After rapping out a dozen hits in the opener, the Mustangs managed just five in the nightcap with Robison and Halverson collecting two apiece.  Notably, Alexander pitched a scoreless 2/3 of an inning, extending his scoreless streak to a remarkable 22 1/3 innings over 12 appearances dating back to March 14.

With the regular season behind them, the Mustangs now turn their attention to the postseason, starting with the GSAC Tournament that starts Thursday on Reese Field.  The top-seeded Mustangs will host the three-day, four-team, double-elimination tourney, playing No. 4 seed Vanguard at noon after second-seeded Westmont and third-seeded Concordia open the tournament at 9:00am.