Westmont Baseball inaugurated the 2012 season with the most unsatisfying of baseball results – a tie. Playing against Pomoma-Pitzer, the Warriors took a 7-6 lead into the bottom of the seventh, but the Sagehens' Nick Gentili scored on a wild pitch with two away to even the score at seven-all.
After Westmont's Michael Kwan struck out Mark Okuma to end the ninth, the game was called for darkness by the umpires. The contest will not be completed later, making it only the second game since 1958 that the Warriors have finished in a tie.
Starting pitcher Daniel Cabuling struggled in the second inning, walking the first four batters before leaving the game with one run scored and the bases load. Torin Shaikh replaced Cabuling on the mound and coaxed Sam Fox into fouling out before convincing Mike Moyer to ground into a double play to end the Sagehen's threat.
Still down 1-0 in the top of the sixth, Westmont left fielder Greg Ruggles led off with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by J.J. Turbin. Designated hitter Tim Leary stepped to the plate and recorded his first hit of the 2012 campaign – an RBI double to left-center field.
After Coby Cress was intentionally walked, William Barring pinch hit for first baseman Thomas Hocutt and walked to load the bases with two away. That brought up third baseman David Gabel who doubled down the left field line, driving in Leary and Cress to make it a 3-1 game.
The Warriors added another run in the top of the seventh inning after shortstop Brent Fukushima hit his second of two lead-off doubles to left-center field. Ruggles advanced Fukushima to third with a sacrifice bunt before Turbin struck out to make it two away. Second baseman David Pennington was then walked as was Leary, loading the bases. Cress then picked up an RBI the hard way by being hit by a pitch.
Pomona scored five times in the bottom half of the seventh inning to take a 6-4 lead. But the Warriors scored three times in the top of the eighth to recapture a 7-6 advantage. Gabel led off with a single to right and advanced to second on a bunt single by catcher Brandon Gildea. Another bunt single by Fukushima – his third hit of the day – loaded the bases with nobody out.
After Ruggles struck out, Turbin was walked to score a run. Pennington then singled to right field, driving in Gildea to tie the game. Leary stepped up to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly to left field, driving in Fukushima. Cress attempted to extend the lead with a single to left, but Turbin was thrown out at the plate for the third out of the inning.
The bottom of the eight and top of the ninth were scoreless, setting up the scenario for a tied game. Gentili led off with a single to short and was sacrificed to second by Ben Cohen. Isaac Richard grounded out to third, allowing Gentili to take third with two away and positioning him to score on the wild pitch.
While no pitchers were awarded a win or charged with a loss, Shaikh had the best outing of the day for the Warriors he pitched four-plus innings in relief allowing just two hits without giving up a run. He did not surrender a walk while striking out one.
With a record of 0-0-1, the Warriors will head up to Cal State Monterey Bay next weekend for a three game series with the Otters. On Friday, the two teams will face off at 2:30 p.m. Then on Saturday a doubleheader will be played beginning at ten o'clock.
