Fans at Westmont's Russ Carr Field witnessed a rare treat on Wednesday afternoon as Westmont Baseball (18-27, 10-22 GSAC) took on the Cougars of Azusa Pacific (24-22, 16-17). In the top of the third inning, Westmont second baseman Brandon Allen executed an unassisted triple play. The Warriors went on to win the Golden State Athletic Conference game 5-4 in 13 innings.

Pete McCarthy pitched two and one-third innings in relief to pick-up the win. McCarthy did not allow a run and gave up just two hits. Jacob Regalado, making his first start of the year, allowed three runs on seven hits in seven and one-third innings of work. He struck out five and walked three.

"This is a week in which we have to play five conference games," said Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz. "So we needed to bring in another starter. Regs has started for most of his career so we knew he could do it. He didn't face APU last year so they hadn't seen him yet. He was the right guy for the job and he proved it today."

Mitch Crocker pitched three and one-third innings for the Warriors allowing one run on four hits. Crocker struck out four without allowing a walk.

"Mitchell is a sinker, slider guy and when he is down in the zone he is hard to hit," said Westmont pitching coach Tony Cougoule. "He was ahead in the count today and able to move the ball around."

Reliever Jason Plowman was charged with the Cougar's loss. In two and one-third innings he gave up one unearned run on two hits. Starter Morgan Wynne allowed four runs, three of which were earned, on seven hits. He struck out five and walked one.

At the major league level, an unassisted triple play is more uncommon than a perfect game. Since 1901, 20 perfect games have been thrown while only 15 unassisted triple plays have been recorded.

"We were beside ourselves," said Ruiz of the triple play. "I have never experienced an unassisted triple play and I don't think anyone in our dugout has. It shocked all of us, but it was exciting and was a big momentum turn. It fired up our dugout and gave us a lot of life."

With men on first and second, the Azusa Pacific coaching staff called for a hit-and-run on the first pitch from Regalado to Sammy Soyring. Soyring lined the ball to Allen who glove it and tagged Anthony Rodriguez as he ran from first to second. Allen then dashed to, and stepped on, second base; retiring Alex Ring who taken off for third.

"When you see the opportunity to do something special, you have to take it," said Allen. "I caught it and tag the runner. Then I looked over and saw the runner was nearly standing on third base. So I just jogged over and touched the base."

Azusa Pacific scored first when Dusty Sanderson knocked a solo home run over the right field fence to lead off the top of the fourth. The Cougars added another run in the top of the sixth to go up 2-0. Azusa's second run came courtesy of an RBI single by Matt Kimmel.

Westmont took the lead in the bottom of the sixth with three runs. After Mitch Petrak was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, Jarrett Rouse laid down a sacrifice bunt. The Cougars' third baseman tried to retire Petrak and second, but threw the ball over the second baseman's head into right center field. Petrak reached third on the play, giving the Warriors runners on the corners with no outs.

Jordan Bottenfield successfully sacrifice bunted, advancing courtesy runner Steven Motush to second. Petrak, however, remained at third. That brought up J.J. Turbin who singled through the left side to drive in Petrak for the first run of the game. Coby Cress then singled through the right side, driving in Motush and leaving the Warriors with men on first and second. A single by Tim Leary drove in Turbin to give the Warriors a 3-2 lead.

In the top of the eighth inning, Johnathon Erb was walked and then stole second. After reaching third on a wild pitch, Erb scored on a ground ball to the Anthony Delgado. As a result, the game was tied at three-all and remained that way through the end of the ninth inning.

With two outs in the top of the tenth, Brent Warren hit a solo home run to right field to give Azusa a 4-3 advantage. But the Warriors were not about to give up.

Phil Prickett reached on an error to lead off the bottom of the tenth and advanced to second on a balk. Two outs later, Prickett reached third on a wild pitch. Down in the count 1-2, Turbin doubled down the left-field line to tie the game up at four-all.

"I can't say enough about J.J. staying in there and battling," said Ruiz. "He was down to a strike against a good pitcher. As a left-handed batter against a pitch that was fairly well executed, he stayed in there and battled to get a line drive down the left-field line."

"It has been a long year," said Turbin, "but throughout the whole year we have never quit (even though) we've had some rough weeks. This is my first year here and I've never played on a team like this. Despite circumstances, we always find a way to come out and practice hard and play hard every day. It is such a great group of guys to be around."

Turbin also kept the Warriors in the game in the top of the thirteenth inning with a spectacular defensive play. With a man at first and one out, Rodriguez drove a ball into right-center field. Turbin dove to his left and snagged the ball for the second out of the inning.

"I got a good jump on it," said Turbin. "I thought I was going to drop it because my glove dropped down, but I ended up coming up with it."

After the third out was recorded in the top of the inning, Turbin led off the bottom of the thirteenth and reached on an error by the shortstop. That brought up Cress who smashed a walk-off triple over the centerfielder's head.

"My only goal was to get J.J. to second," said Cress. "I thought I would be bunting in that at bat. But, Coach Ruiz gave me the green light to swing on the first one. I think (the pitcher) thought I was going to bunt, so he threw a fast ball right down the middle and I got a good swing on it."
After the game, Ruiz explained why he had Cress swinging away instead of bunting.

"As a coaching staff, we always debate about pinch running for our DH," said Ruiz. "When you do so under NAIA rules, you lose your DH. We pinch ran for Tim when he led off with a double (in the eleventh inning). We were banking on winning the game in that inning or not getting back to a spot where he would hit again."

The gamble didn't payoff, at least not in the eleventh.

"So, we had our three-hitter up (in the thirteenth) with Leary's four-hitter spot up next. We felt like Coby gave us the best shot to win the ballgame and we were not going to take the bat out of his hands. Plus we had a good runner on first base in J.J. So we took our chances."

This time, the coach's gamble worked. The number four spot in the order never came to the plate.

"Coach Cougoule was coaching third and did a great job reading the relay that was off-line," said Ruiz. "As soon as he read it, he sent J.J. home. They didn't even have a play at the plate."

The Warriors and Cougars will match up again tomorrow for the second game of the four game series. First pitch is at three o'clock."