By Mason Nesbitt, Sports Information Director

Adam Rubio‘s game-winning RBI single in the eighth inning Saturday skipped past a diving shortstop and into the outfield. It was crisp. It was timely. It represented a vastly different trajectory for TMU’s 5-4 win over Marymount California University than when the teams met Friday in Compton.

Saturday’s contest, the first of a doubleheader at TMU, didn’t boast the flair of its predecessor, when Josh Robison lifted three home runs out of the spacious MLB Urban Youth Academy, but the effort was no less effective.

TMU (2-0) fell behind early, scratched across a few runs here and there and made its money in the bottom of the eighth, when Pearson Good doubled home the tying run and Rubio came through in the clutch.

The NAIA No. 14 Mustangs trailed 4-1 after five and a half innings. Then they began their ascent.

Ryan Bricker and Good each singled in a run in the sixth, and Aidan Stout pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for the win. With runners at second and third in the seventh, he struck out a Mariner batter to end the threat.

Jaiden France started on the mound for the Mustangs, going five innings and allowing two unearned runs on two hits.

He struck out seven and walked two in his Master’s pitching debut.

France, a transfer from San Jose State, added punch to TMU’s rotation and lineup with his arrival this fall.

Saturday, he went 1-for-4 at the plate, with a double that smashed off the wall in right center.

Preston White, a transfer from Birmingham-Southern College, pitched a clean ninth for his first save as a Mustang. White started the game in right field and went 2-for-4.