Despite a five-run ninth inning, Westmont Baseball fell to the Lancers of California Baptist by a score of 15-8 at Russ Carr Field on Thursday afternoon. Warrior pitchers had trouble containing Lancer hitters who entered the game with a team batting average of .314. Cal Baptist pounded the Warriors for 16 hits, six of them for extra bases.
Down 10-0, Westmont scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth. After shortstop Jordan Bottenfield reached on an error to lead off the inning, designated hitter Tim Leary sent a two-run bomb over the right field fence. One out later, Third baseman Mark Magdaleno singled down the right field line. Second baseman Zeke Torres received a walk, moving Magdaleno to second. A fly out to right by Evan Soliman allowed Magdaleno to reach third base.
With Charles Whitman batting, Torres broke for second. When the ball was thrown in an attempt by the Lancers to pick up the third out of the inning, Magdeleno dashed home. Cal Baptist catcher Sharif Othman threw the ball into center field, allowing Magdaleno to easily score the third run of the inning.
The Warriors sent 11 men to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning and pushed across five runs. With one away, Phil Pricket, who had entered the game earlier to play left field, smashed a line drive home run over the left field fence to ignite a Warrior rally.
Left fielder Terrell Wong was retired on a ground ball to third to produce the second out of the inning. But the Warriors were not done. Right fielder Coby Cress was walked and then scored on a double to right center by Jordan Bottenfield. Trevor Christianson, now serving as the designated hitter, produced a check-swing infield single to keep the inning alive and move Bottenfield to third. That brought up first baseman Colten Christianson, Trevor's older brother, who walked to load the bases.
Magdaleno hit a ground ball to first and the game appeared to be over. But Matt Thrall overthrew the pitcher covering the bag and allowed both Bottenfield and the younger Christianson to score. Chris Ramirez, in for Torres at second, was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. Next up was catcher Taylor Maples who singled into left field to push the older Christianson across the plate for the fifth out of the inning.
Starter Geoff Rocha was charged with the loss after giving up six runs (five earned) on six hits in two innings of work. Rocha walked one and struck out three. Bill Sharp took over in the top of the third inning and gave up four runs on three hits in one and one-third inning. He walked two and struck out three. David Stott pitched four innings, giving up five runs on six hits.
Ian Lawler closed out the game and had the best outing of the Warrior hurdles. In an inning and two thirds he did not allow a run and gave up just one hit before retiring the final four Lancer batters.
The win was credited to California Baptist starter Drew Madrigal who pitched seven innings allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits. He struck out nine and walked three.
Because of the threat of rain in the Inland Empire on Saturday, California Baptist and Westmont have rescheduled their remaining two games in the four game series. The Warriors will travel to Riverside for a two o'clock game on Friday and then play then try to get the fourth game in on Saturday beginning at 11:00 a.m.
