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BALTIMORE -- Both teams were outstanding defensively. The pitching was sharp, too. A well-played game between the Los Angeles Angels and Baltimore Orioles was ultimately turned on one swing by Nick Markakis, who has made a habit of delivering the big hit in pressure situations this season. Miguel Gonzalez allowed one run over eight innings and Markakis hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the seventh inning to give Baltimore a 3-2 victory Tuesday night. Light-hitting Ryan Flaherty contributed two well-timed hits for the Orioles, whose third straight victory put them a season-high nine games over .500 (37-28). Baltimore will seek to complete a three-game sweep on Wednesday afternoon. With the score tied at 1, the Orioles used two-out infield hits by Danny Valencia, Steve Pearce and Flaherty to load the bases in the seventh. Left-hander Scott Downs was then brought in to face Markakis, who lined a single to centre for a 3-1 lead. "You want to be in those situations," said Markakis, whos now batting .346 with 10 RBIs when there are two outs and runners in scoring position. "Ive faced Downs enough to know what hes going to do up there. He tries to sink the ball in on leftys hands and he does a good job of it. I was just looking for a ball up in the zone. "Anything up that I could reach, I was swinging. He left one up over the plate, I put a good swing on it and we scored two runs." Markakis also made two fine plays in right field, third baseman Manny Machado made several fine pickups and first baseman Chris Davis snagged a smoking line drive that began an unassisted double play. But Angels centre fielder Peter Bourjos made the defensive play of the night, robbing J.J. Hardy of a two-run homer in the first inning. After retreating toward the warning track, Bourjos pressed his body against the wall with a perfectly timed leap, stuck his glove well over the 7-foot barrier and caught the ball. "When fans come to a game, thats what they expect -- good defence, hitting and good pitching," Markakis said. "You saw that tonight, and it was a good ballgame." Especially for the Orioles. Los Angeles lost its fourth in a row despite getting a solid outing from left-hander Jason Vargas and a home run by Mike Trout that travelled an estimated 448 feet. "Both guys were throwing the ball well," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "I really liked the way Jason Vargas pitched tonight. Three infield hits in the seventh inning kind of set the table for them and they got the big hit from Markakis." Vargas (5-4) allowed three runs, seven hits and a walk in 6 2-3 sharp innings. The loss ended the left-handers five-game winning streak -- a run that started with a shutout of Baltimore on May 3. "That happens when you leave runners on base," Vargas said. "Granted, the balls werent hit that well." Howie Kendrick had two hits for Los Angeles, which has dropped nine of 11. Gonzalez (4-2) gave up four hits, walked one and struck out five. Jim Johnson got two outs in the ninth before Josh Hamilton doubled and scored on a single by Albert Pujols. Johnson then struck out Mark Trumbo to earn his 23rd save, and third in three games. Poised to throw his first career complete game, Gonzalez was removed by manager Buck Showalter after throwing 96 pitches. Asked if he wanted to go nine innings, Gonzalez said, "That would have been fun. But Buck knows what hes doing, and J.J. did a good job finishing the game." Trout put the Angels up 1-0 in the fourth with his 12th home run, the second in two nights. Its the ninth time in his career hes homered in successive games. In the bottom half, Hardy was thwarted in a second straight at-bat. After being victimized earlier by Bourjos, Hardy popped a foul toward the seats in left. As Trout prepared to make the catch, a fan wearing a Trout jersey stuck his glove in the way. The ball bounced off the fans mitt and landed on the ground, but third base umpire Joe West called Hardy out because of fan interference. Held to two hits through five innings, the Orioles pulled even in the sixth. No. 9 hitter Flaherty singled and Markakis followed with a single that momentarily handcuffed Bourjos for an error, putting runners at second and third. Manny Machado followed with an RBI grounder, providing Baltimore with its first run against Vargas in 15 innings this season. NOTES: Machado extended his hitting streak to nine games with a first-inning single before being picked off first base by Angels C Chris Iannetta. ... Baltimores Chris Davis ended an 0-for-16 skid with an infield hit in the first inning, although replays showed he was out at first. ... Jason Hammel (1-3, 7.33 ERA at home) starts for the Orioles in the series finale Wednesday. Jerome Williams will be on the mound for L.A. ... Trouts eight homers against Baltimore are his most against any opponent. 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John David Crow Jersey . - Oakland Raiders running back Rashad Jennings was speaking to a group of local high school students earlier this week when the conversation turned to the importance of being prepared when opportunities in life arise. (STATS) -- Liberty has made no effort to hide its desire to join an FBS conference and play with the big boys, a stance that was reignited this week when school president Jerry Falwell Jr. said the Flames might make the leap in a matter of months.Beating one of the premier teams in the FCS should make them a bit more attractive to potential suitors.Theres a golden opportunity to land a signature win Saturday against No. 3 Jacksonville State, the Ohio Valley Conference power that made it to the national championship game last season and the highest-ranked team that will have ever visited Lynchburgs Williams Stadium.Ive heard so much about the environment at Liberty, Gamecocks coach John Grass said. I think its one of the best in FCS football.Falwell Jr. is hoping the 27-year-old stadium will soon be one of the better -- albeit tinier, at 19,200 -- environments in the FBS. He announced in 2012 that the Flames (1-2) were ready to jump to the FBS, and though some brief flirtation with the Sun Belt never materialized, there could soon be a new opportunity. The Big 12 is currently considering expansion candidates -- a vote is possible as early as an Oct. 17 board meeting -- and the domino effect could leave either the American Athletic Conference or Conference USA looking for a new member or two.Grass team is coming off a 27-26 win over Coastal Carolina, another former Big South member thats making the move to the FBS. Following this transition season, the Chanticleers are off to the Sun Belt.We just talked about Coastal Carolinas budget and moving up; well, Liberty has the same kind of budget and wanting to move up, they are just waiting on a conference to take them, Grass said. They have the biggest budget in FCS football and maybe some of the lower level Power 5 schools, so they have a lot going on with their university and in the right direction.All that speculation has little meaning to Turner Gills current team, which is 0-for-2 against FBS schools in September after recording FBS wins in each of the past two seasons. The Flames are simply concentrating on finding a way back to the FCS playoffs, which they missed out on last season after making their inaugural tripp in 2014.ddddddddddddTheres an automatic path in by winning the Big South, but a victory over Jacksonville State could give them a reasonable chance of an at-large berth should they stumble. After Saturday, the schedule isnt exactly challenging until two games in six days in mid-November against Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina.Its been great focus all week, Gill said. Im not saying its been a whole lot of rah-rah stuff, but paying attention to detail and a lot of great communication from teammate to teammate. When I see that, that tells me theyre focused and ready to go.As of Friday morning, Gill was still silent in naming a starting quarterback. Neither of his options have played well thus far. Junior Stephon Masha has thrown six interceptions in just 60 pass attempts, giving him an interception percentage thats the second highest in all of Division I. And though hes completed only 51.7 percent of his throws, thats 1.7 percent better than freshman Stephen Calvert, who saw his most extensive action yet in last Saturdays 29-14 loss to SMU.The Flames will need whichever signal caller is taking snaps to succeed through the air, because theyll likely find space hard to come by on the ground. LSU had success rushing against Jacksonville State, but Coastal Carolina gained just 42 yards on 35 carries.Theres no uncertainty under center for the Gamecocks (2-1). Eli Jenkins paved the way to the title game last season and despite a dip in accuracy through three games, hes still the driving force in an offense thats cracked 500 total yards against both of its non-FBS opponents.(Jenkins), in my mind, is no question one of the top players in the country, Gill said.There are four wins over FCS top-10 foes on Gills resume since arriving at Liberty in 2012 -- the Flames knocked off both Montana and Coastal in Lynchburg last season -- but theres a reason Jacksonville State heads north as a 9 1/2-point favorite in this one. The Gamecocks have lost only three regular-season games since Grass took over in 2014 -- to Michigan State, Auburn and LSU. ' ' '