FULLERTON, Calif. -  The Jessup Baseball team would take to the road for their first conference matchup after a non-conference win early in the week against Simpson. The Warriors faced one of the two ranked opponents in the conference to start things off against No. 8 Hope International.  

"Our group displayed great teamwork from the moment we arrived in Fullerton. There was a lot of selflessness and acts of picking each other up in several key spots," said head coach in his first season with the Warriors Jake McKinley.

Down 2-0 Friday night, the Warriors had a seventh-inning comeback posting seven runs and another in the eighth for the 8-2 victory to start the series against the Royals. The Warriors would follow suit in the doubleheader on Saturday with the early lead and 7-4 win in game one and the 9-1 victory in game two of the day for the series sweep over nationally recognized Hope advancing to 9-3 overall and 3-0 in conference.

DAY 1
Starting things off strong, the Warriors had a pair of hits in both the first and second innings, but by the fourth inning, they would leave three runners stranded, unable to light up the scoreboard.

It would be the Royals to strike first in the bottom of the fifth as starting pitcher for the Warriors, Tristan Prybylinski would give up a home run for the only runs Hope would earn in game one.

Prybylinski would retire at the end of the inning with a career-high nine strikeouts with Tyler Fujimoto coming in to take the bump for a quick bottom of the sixth with a pair of strikeouts.

In the top of the seventh, the Warriors would come alive with Josh Duitsman leading things off with a double to right field. A pair of errors and a walk would get the Warriors on the board, followed by the Royals walking two across home plate with Will Law and Cal Koga getting hit.

Up 4-2, Alex Nasukiewicz would bring another duo in with a double to left, followed by Pastora bringing in the final run of the inning with a single to shortstop for the 7-2 lead at the end of seven.

Austin Swift would bring in the final run of the game for the Warriors in the eighth with a sacrifice fly to right center to score Sam Curtis. 

The Warriors would take game one of the 3-game series 7-2 with an impressive one-inning comeback and Fujimoto earning his second win of the season.

DAY 2
The first-inning lead in game two of the series would set the momentum for the day as the Warriors capitalized on Royal's errors to go up 1-0 after the first frame. But the second inning would give the Warriors plenty of insurance with a 5-run inning. Swift would double to bring across the first run, followed by Andrew Shaps who singled to get on, and Cal Koga hitting the bomb to left field for the 2-run homer. Joe Starick would follow with his own hit over the same wall for the 6-0 lead after a pair of innings.

The Royals would reach the board in the bottom of the third and again in the fourth, but the Warriors would stop it there and bring in their final run in the top of the seventh as Law singled to right to bring in Kawai Takemura for the 7-2 advantage. 

Hayden Piner would clinch his first win of the season, now 1-1 with help from Josh Hook (1), Cameron Morrow (2) and Sam Curtis (3) with a game-high for Jessup 5 strikeouts.

"I thought our bullpen did a great job during the entire series," McKinley said. "They pounded the strike zone and did a good job keeping our offense energized with quick innings and making big pitches when we needed them."

After the break, the Warriors would continue where they left off as Swift would send one over the right-field wall, followed by Noah Shackles with bases loaded and the 2RBI single to go up 3-0 after the first frame. 

The Royals would answer back in the bottom of the inning off starter, Ashkhon Kuhaulua, but it would be the only run allowed for the junior who collected his third win of the season in a complete seventh-inning showing with 10 strikeouts.

Koga would single in the bottom of the second to bring in Swift to go up 4-1 and the Warriors would put up another four in the top of the third (8-1) behind a single by Curtis and Shaps and a double from Swift.

The final run for the Warriors would come in the top of the sixth with Takemura scoring Dakota Spillers with a double down the right-field line. Koga and Swift would lead the Warriors in their two-game outing with 3 RBI's each, followed by Shackles (2) and Shaps (2).

Jessup will return home for a non-conference matchup against Bethesda on Tuesday before hosting their GSAC home-opener welcoming San Diego Christian to McBean Park on Friday and Saturday. 

   
William Jessup University is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC). For additional information regarding Jessup Athletics, visit www.jessupathletics.com; visit www.jessup.edu for more information on William Jessup University. Follow Jessup Athletics on social media: William Jessup University Athletics (Facebook) and @JessupAthletics (Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat).