Westmont Baseball (1-1) picked up its first win of the year in Wednesday's home opener, defeating California Lutheran 7-3. Kellen Skersies (1-0) earned the win after pitching 6.0 innings and allowing only one run on five hits. Skersies struck out two without issuing a walk.
"Kellen is one of the fiercest competitors we have," said head coach Scott Deck "He doesn't throw hard, but he knows where to put the ball and how to change speeds. He is almost like having a coach out there pitching. He knows what he can do well and how to get batters out. The difference this year is that Kellen has a good defense behind him. When we throw him at our field, he frustrates a lot of guys. It was great to get him a win in his first outing this year."
The Warriors scored in the first inning to establish a lead they would not surrender. Kingsmen starter David Brethouwer surrendered a lead-off double to Westmont left fielder Taylor Grace. Grace moved to second on a line drive to right field by freshman third baseman Jordan Bottenfield and then scored on a sacrifice fly to left by senior designated hitter Cody Chapman.
"Taylor Grace is one of the most patient hitters I have ever seen," said Deck. "He has a very good eye. That's what you want with a lead-off hitter so the rest of the team can watch the pitches. He's a very tough out and he runs very well. What we ask him to do is to get on base and he did three times today.
After the Warriors' early score, the next four innings turned into a pitcher's dual. Skersies allowed four hits through the sixth inning but none of the California Lutheran base runners crossed the plate. Skersies was helped in large part by three double-plays, one of which he initiated when he caught an attempted bunt in mid-air and fired to easily retire a Kingsmen runner at first.
The other half of the pitching showdown was also performing quite well. After giving up the hits to Grace and Bottenfield, Brethouwer retired the next 15 batters in order. But the tide changed in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman center fielder Taylor Maddox led off the bottom of the sixth with a homerun to left field, putting the Warriors up 2-0. Grace was awarded first base after being hit by a pitch and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Bottenfield.
Chapman then delivered a single to left field which allowed Grace to take third. Junior second baseman Mark Boujikian produced an RBI on a deep fly to left field which barely stayed in the park. Shortstop Anthony Martinez stepped to the plate and found coach Deck calling for a hit and run. Chapman took off for first and Martinez blistered a line drive to right-center which Chapman had to dodge to avoid. Chapman turned on the afterburners and made it to third with Martinez taking second on the throw.
"We have a scrappy group of guys," said Deck. "They're not power hitters but they are good contact hitters. They all run well and can all put the ball in play. They have been executing – getting our bunts down and moving runners over with hit and runs."
Martinez' single ended Brethouwer's performance on the mound as California Lutheran head coach Marty Slimak called Pete Schmitt to the mound to take over the pitching duties.
After a walk to freshman first baseman Colten Christianson, catcher Luke Montzingo stepped to the plate and slammed a ground ball to Kingsmen shortstop Chad Heschong. But the ball took a nasty hop upward, knocking off Heschong's cap and sunglasses and bounding into center field as Chapman and Martinez scored to give Westmont a 5-0 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Kingmen's first baseman Paul Hartmann lead off with a home run to left center which chased Skersies from the game.
"Kellen threw great," said Westmont sophomore catcher Luke Montzingo. "He was struggling a little bit and then he refocused and got back to it."
As the Warriors' catcher, Montzingo has the challenge this year of working with a pitching staff which is twice as large as the year before.
"It's challenging to get to know all the new pitchers," acknowledged Montzingo. "Fortunately, Coach Yokubaitis is there to help me. If he feels I am a little out of sync, he will tell me, 'this pitcher is on this page.' I totally accept that because it helps me know why a pitcher pitched where he did. I think today I connected with Kellen and we were totally on the same page."
Freshman Keith Johnson took over on the mound for Westmont. Heschong reached on a single to right that got past the right fielder allowing him to advance to second. Johnson then coaxed center fielder Nick Pinneri to ground out to second with Heschong taking third on the play. After a walk to designated hitter Vinny Lopez, who promptly stole second base, Johnson picked up the second out of the inning on a live drive to Grace in left field. Grace rifled the ball into the infield, preventing anyone from scoring on the play. But second baseman David Iden stepped to the plate and doubled down the left field line to score Heschong and Lopez and move the Kingsmen to within two runs (5-3). However, that was the end of the scoring by California Lutheran as Johnson retired the next four batters, two on strike outs.
"It was nice to see Keith Johnson get into the game," said Deck. "He throws the ball really hard. As a freshman, he was nervous, but he got out there and got some innings."
Westmont added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. With one away, Martinez singled up the middle and then advanced to second when Christianson was walked. Schmitt was removed from the mound by California Lutheran in favor of Chris Batelli.
Montzingo then stepped to the plate and recorded his third RBI of the day on a double down the left field line. Christianson advanced to third on the play. After intentionally walking right fielder Charles Whitman, Batelli took a seat on the bench and handed the ball to Mike Paresa.
Paresa was successful in getting Maddox to line out to right field with the bases loaded, but he then walked Grace, allowing Christianson to score. Bottenfield almost emptied the bases on another line shot to right, but the Kingsmen's Trevor Davidson made a tremendous stretch to keep the ball from getting past him and rolling to the fence.
Max Gutierrez was brought in as Westmont's closer in the top of the ninth and retired the side in order – the last two by strikeouts – to give the Warriors the victory.
"Max will start on Saturday, but we wanted to get him an inning in a game," said Deck. "He was going to through a bullpen today anyway so we just did it live."
The Warriors begin the Golden State Athletic Conference schedule on Saturday when they travel to Irvine to take on Concordia in a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.
