FULLERTON – Franky Lopez and Josh Landry delivered quality starts as the Hope International baseball team swept Benedictine Mesa in a doubleheader on Friday by scores of 6-2 and 3-1.

The Royals have won four straight and 10 of their last 12 games, moving to 17-8 overall and 8-2 in the GSAC. The Redhawks fell to 14-13 overall and 5-5 in league action.

Matias Nolasco and Royce Clayton had two hit games.

HIU benefited from two costly BENU errors in game two, posting three runs in the sixth to give Landry his sixth victory.

Game 1 – Hope International 6, Benedictine Mesa 2
The Royals outfitted Lopez with all the run support he needed with three runs in both the first and second innings.

In the first inning, David Shackelford walked and Matias Nolasco followed with a double down the left field line. Shackelford scored all the way from first after the Redhawk left fielder bobbled the ball in the corner. Eddie Cotto drove in Nolasco with another two bagger and Robert Linares singled home Cotto for the 3-0 lead.

Three straight singles set up a bases loaded walk by Shackelford in the second. Nolasco singled up the middle to bring around Spencer Davis, which chased BENU starter Bridger Erickson from the game. 

Cotto's sacrifice fly plated Henry Borjas as the Royals led 6-0.

The Redhawks put a runner in scoring position in both the second and third innings off Lopez after he had retired the first two hitters. But Lopez escaped damage and kept BENU off the scoreboard.

Lopez recorded five of his eight strikeouts through the first four innings. He suffered his only blemish in the fifth as Ben Schnurman belted a two-run homer to right field to close the gap to 6-2. Lopez struck out two in the fifth and fanned Tyson Treadmill to begin the sixth. He exited the game after pitching a clean sixth, allowing seven hits and just one walk on 93 pitches. 

His eight strikeouts represented a season-high.

Anthony Del Rio tossed an impressive 6.0 innings of one-hit, scoreless relief to keep the HIU bats at bay. But southpaw Jayson Thomas was equally as effective out of the bullpen for the Royals, earning the save after throwing 3.0 innings of two-hit relief.

Lopez improved to 3-2 on the season, while Erickson took the loss and fell to 3-2.

Game 2 – Hope International 3, Benedictine Mesa 1
It was a big-time pitcher's duel between Landry and BENU starter Xavier Olivas.

Landry tied his career high with 13 strikeouts, hitting that number for the second time in his last three starts. The lefty struck out at least one batter in every inning, including fanning the side in the second and third.

Landry set down the final 10 Redhawks he faced.

He faced a 1-0 deficit as BENU took advantage of an HIU error to get Tyler Jackson aboard with one out in the second. Anthony Setticasi doubled into the left center gap, scoring Jackson for an unearned run.

Olivas retired eight of the first 10 Royals he faced, and allowed just two hits and two walks through the first four frames. 

The Royals pressured Olivas in the fifth after a BENU error and a walk put two runners aboard. Bobby Romitti came in from the bullpen and got Shackelford to line into an inning-ending double play.

But the BENU defensive lapses were costly in the sixth. After Colby Moran notched a one-out single, Cotto's grounder to second should have resulted in at least one out, but he muffed the routine play as the Royals put two runners aboard.

Clayton followed with a grounder to shortstop. The shortstop had an easy force out at third to get Moran, but tried instead to nab Cotto on a force out at second. His throw sailed past the second baseman and into right field, and Moran scored to tie the game at 1-1.

Pinch hitter Eric Valdivia followed with a huge single to right field to give the Royals a 2-1 lead as Cotto scored. The Royals added an insurance score when Davis put down a perfect safety squeeze, allowing Clayton to come home for the third unearned run of the inning.

Landry improved to 6-1 on the season. He did not issue a walk during his outing and now has pitched 22.0 consecutive innings without a free pass.

Romitti fell to 1-3 after giving up the three unearned runs in 1.2 innings. Olivas threw 4.1 innings of two-hit scoreless ball.

The Royals host Benedictine Mesa for a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at 11:00 a.m.