Santa Clarita, CA- A late game one rally, an early lead in game two, and another late rally was all turned away as Arizona Christian fell to The Master's 5-4 and 3-1 on Thursday.  Junior Jake Howard hit .500 on the day.  Junior Jose Pereyda collected two doubles.

In the opener, ACU had singles in two of the first three innings but both were erased with double plays.  They managed only two base runners in innings four through six- an error by TMC and a double by Howard.

The Master's found the scoreboard with a three run home run in the first and two more runs in the second for a 5-0 lead.

Score remained unchanged until the seventh when Arizona Christian finally found the scoreboard.  Senior Jake Wakamatsu reached on an error before Pereyda doubled him home.

Move to the ninth with the Firestorm down to their final two outs and ACU strung together five straight hits to make the game much closer and interesting.  Senior Tate Erickson singled to left, Wakamatsu singled to center, and Pereyda came through with another RBI double to center.  Howard singled to load the bases.  Junior Chance Randall doubled down the left field line to plate Wakamatsu and Pereyda.  With the game tying run 90 feet away and the potential game winner at second, the final two outs were recorded with a strikeout.

Junior Garrett Day (1-1) took the loss.  Senior Cooper Johnson threw a nice four innings of work without allowing a run.  Juniors Chris Paulson and Andrew Mirasty induced 1-2-3 innings with Mirasty striking out the side.

Game two saw three scoreless innings before Howard drove home Erickson in the fourth for a 1-0 edge- the only lead ACU enjoyed all day.

The Mustangs (21-11, 11-7 GSAC) scored three unearned runs with the benefit of just two singles in the fifth to take a 3-1 advantage.

After Senior Tatum Hendrix struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth, the Firestorm (9-19, 6-15 GSAC) made a bid for another late rally in the seventh.

Sophomore Michael Dunnebecke reached on error before two straight fielder's choice left a runner at first but now with two outs.  Senior Hector Ortiz and Pereyda walked to load the bases.  But a flip to first with the pitcher covering end the threat and the game.

Hendrix (2-4) pitched all six innings and struck out six but the three unearned runs stuck him with the loss.

The Firestorm will return home and return to their regular playing days when they host Vanguard on Friday and Saturday for a three game set.  Friday's game will begin at 3:00 pm.