Westmont baseball (4-6, 1-1) opened conference play on Saturday by splitting a doubleheader with Point Loma Nazarene (10-3, 1-1) at Russ Carr Field. The Sea Lions, which finished with the second best record in the conference last season, took the first game 11-0, but the Warriors rebounded to claim a 7-5 win in game two.

"To beat Point Loma this early can set a tone for the season and conference play," said head coach Rob Crawford. "The guys realized today that they can beat every team in the GSAC. Hopefully that's going to be the catalyst for us this season."

Westmont's Jon White (2-1) pitched six and two-thirds frames in the seven-inning second game, allowing five runs, two of which were earned, on nine hits. White struck out six while allowing only two walks."

"Whitey really battled up for us," said senior catcher Dominick Paluso. "He was hitting his spots and that inspired us to really come through for him."

"It's great to see Jon come out as a sophomore and compete as well as he does," said Crawford. "The way he competes on the mound gives a lot of confidence to our team. Jon has shown that kind of outing three times now and we expect to see it all year long – throwing low strikes, jumping ahead of hitters and not making a lot of mistakes."

Hard throwing right-hander Matt Tuttle (3-1) took the loss for Point Loma. Tuttle pitched two and two-thirds innings giving up six runs on eight hits.

The scoring started for the Warriors when Paluso led off the bottom of the second with a single to left field and senior left fielder Ryan McGill followed with a single to center. Senior third baseman Jordan Ballard then smashed the ball to right field where it snuck under the fence for a ground rule double. Paulso scored on the play and McGill reached third base. With no outs and men at second and third, junior Hector Chavez produced a two-RBI single to spot Westmont to a 3-0 lead.

Westmont added two more in the third inning. With one away, freshman second baseman Nate Shaver doubled down the left field line and then scored when sophomore first baseman Eric Gaustad singled to left-center. Paluso stepped to the plate and smashed a bomb that cleared the left field fence by twenty feet, increasing the Warrior's advantage to 6-0.

"The guy was hanging me inside curve balls all day," said Paluso. "I just adjusted a little bit, opened my stance up and stayed through it. It felt good."

After retiring the first five batters he faced, and later, six batters in a row, things began to get a little shaky for White in the top of the fifth inning. White hit the leadoff batter, catcher Will Craig, who then stole second base. First baseman Kevin Campbell reached on a single, advancing Craig to third. Craig then scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by left fielder Chase Birky who was hitting in the number nine position.

Campbell was able to reach second on a wild pitch in the dirt, but was unable to advance on a fly ball to center by right fielder Chris Simpson. White then issued a free pass to second baseman Kellen Walker, putting men on first and second with two outs.

Shortstop Jason Gallegos hit a ground ball to short which should have ended the inning, but Warrior shortstop Phillip Valle had trouble finding the handle and Gallegos reached first while the runners moved up one to load the bases.

A two-out double to left by designated hitter Robby Jacobson scored both Campbell and Walker while advancing Gallegos to third, continuing the Sea Lion's rally. Center fielder Kurt Steinhauer grounded to third base, but an errant throw by Ballard allowed Steinhauer to reach first, Jacobson to reach third and Gallegos to score the fourth run of the inning.

Third baseman Jesse Gill was the ninth batter to step into the batters box for the Sea Lions in the fourth inning. But his at bat was never recorded because White caught Steinhauer leaning and picked him off of first base to end the inning.

Westmont added a run in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Gaustad, Paluso and McGill recorded consecutive singles; with Gaustad scoring from second on the McGill's hit to center field. It was Gaustad and McGill's second hit of the game and the third for Paluso who had been struggling at the plate in previous games. Ballard also had a two-hit game

"Coming into the season Paluso, Gaustad, McGill, and Ballard are the guys that we thought would be tough in our lineup," said Crawford. "Yesterday in batting practice you could see Dom coming out of [his slump] a little bit. We saw some things in his swing. We told him we didn't want to change the swing, but wanted him to change the approach of the swing. We asked him to think about relaxing the bottom half. Even in the first game his approaches looked better. It was good to see him have a breakout game.

"With Gaustad being hot, we moved him into the three hole," said Crawford. "He had a rough first game but jumped right back and went two-for-three [in the second game] two days after a five-hit doubleheader up north. He has been very consistent and is feeling good at the plate."

Gill returned to the plate to lead off the sixth inning with the Sea Lions down 7-4 and singled through the right side. White then struck out Craig before Campbell singled to left, giving Point Loma runners at first and second with one away.

White recorded the second out on his sixth strike out of the game, this one coming with Birky at the plate. Simpson picked up a RBI with a single through the left side that scored Gill and advanced Campbell to third. The Sea Lions looked poised to once again produce some two-out damage. But for the second inning in a row, White shut down the runner at first. This time White stepped toward his right, as if to try and pick off the runner at third, just as Simpson left first in an attempt to steal second. White turned around and ran at Simpson, forcing him to choose between continuing to advance to second or retreating to first. He chose the latter, and White flipped the ball to Gaustad who applied the tag.

"Those plays to get the runners [in the fifth and sixth innings] were huge," said White. "More than likely, if we don't get those plays they were going to score runs in at least one of those innings."

"You have to give credit to Jon White for both of those plays," said Crawford. "The nice thing about Jon is that he varies his looks. He has three or four different pickoff moves he will use depending on what he is trying to accomplish. The pick is usually not designed to pick someone off but to keep them from getting a good jump on the run. But Jon had a great move while the guy was leaning."
The Sea Lions threatened again in the top of the seventh and final inning, loading the bases with two outs. But McGill, who had replaced White after more than 120 pitches, struck out Craig to end the inning and record the Warrior win.

Senior left-hander Kevin Fouret took the loss for the Warriors in the early game, pitching four and one-third inning and giving up nine runs, five of which were earned, on 10 hits. Freshman right-hander Kellen Skersies pitched four and two-thirds innings in relief, giving up two runs, one earned, on six hits. Skersies struck out three and allowed one walk.

The Warriors will return to action on Saturday, February 18, in a GSAC doubleheader at Concordia in Irvine. First pitch is at 11:00 a.m.