By Zach DeMarcus
January 30, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Junior Luke Coffey was 4 for 5 at the plate with 4 RBIs this afternoon as Westmont Baseball (5-0) cruised past Bethesda (1-4) 20-8. Second basemen Michael Stefanic also added four hits and left the yard to pad the Warrior's lead.
 
Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz said, "I thought our offense came out with a good approach. We kept lazy fly balls out of the air. We hit the ball hard on a line and hit the ball to both sides of the field – which we needed to do. I felt like on the mound we just didn't throw enough strikes today – that part was frustrating."
 
Westmont sent freshman left-hander Dylan Sund to the mound for his first start in his young career. He had a hard time finding the zone through his 3.1 innings pitched. He finished with three strikeouts, five walks, and gave up six runs – five of which were earned.
 
Bethesda plated one run in the top half of the first. Nathan Munoz led off the game with a walk and stole second. Joshua Luna followed with a walk of his own. Tyler Ross grounded into a 4-6-3 double play – advancing Munoz to third. Mario Gonzalez then singled to left field scoring Munoz. Ivan Galindo would line out to second base to the end the inning.
 
Westmont responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the first. Designated hitter Taylor Bush reached on an error by the shortstop. Stefanic singled to center. Coffey drove in the Warrior's first run of the day on a double to left center. Isaiah Leach walked to load the bases. All three runners would advance a base after Bethesda's starting pitcher Justin Nathasingh balked – resulting in another scored run. After a groundout, Bryce Morrison singled to right field – scoring Coffey for the third run of the inning.
 
After a scoreless top of the second the Warriors would go back to work in the bottom half of the inning. Catcher Tyler Roper was hit by a pitch – Hayden Euper came on to run as the courtesy runner. Bush and Stefanic would both single to center field. Coffey followed with a two-RBI single to left field – scoring Euper and Bush. Leach loaded up the bases with his single through the right side. Henry Heeden followed with a sacrifice fly to left field – scoring Stefanic. Bryce Morison grounded out to third – Coffey and Leach advanced to second and third on the play. Brody Weiss chopped a grounder that bounced off the palm of the shortstop. He would reach on the error and Coffery and Leach would both come in to score for the fourth and fifth runs of the inning.
 
Bethesda would score one in the top of the third and Westmont came back with three of their own in the bottom half of the inning. After Roper lined out, Bush singled. Stefanic then singled down the left field line. Bush, with his speed, advanced to third and drew a throw – Stefanic would advance to second on the throw. Coffey stayed hot with a single to center field – scoring Bush. He would advance to second on an error by the catcher. After a strikeout, Hedeen hit a two-out, two-RBI double down the left field line – bringing the score to 11-2 after three innings.
 
Bethesda added their only crooked number of the game in the top of the fourth. They would score five runs on three hits and three walks. Nolan Cannon came in to pitch with one out recorded in the inning. He would go on to throw 2.2 innings and pick up the win. He finished with four strikeouts, two runs, and only gave up one hit.
 
The Warriors added to their 11-7 lead in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs, Coffey singled to left center for his fourth hit of the day. Leach then scored Coffey with an RBI double. Ruiz said, "Luke's really grown into his role as a leader on this team and a force in the middle of our lineup. He's doing a really good job showing up every day trying to be the same guy mentally. He had a great day at the plate today."
 
Bethesda responded with a run in the top of the sixth. Steele Hadfield led off the inning with a walk. Raul Abundis was then hit by a pitch. The two runners advanced 90 feet on a field pitch. Cannon got Munoz to strikeout swinging. Luna then scored Hadfield on a ground ball to short. Cannon got out of the inning getting Rios to strikeout looking.
 
Cory Dawson came in to pitch for Westmont in the top of the seventh. He got Gonzalez to fly out to right and Galindo to groundout to third. Hector Rodriguez hit a two-out double, but Dawson was able to avoid the threat after retiring Andres Wright on a ground ball to the mound.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, Bush led off with a single and Stefanic pounded a 2-0 fastball over the left field wall for a two-run home run. After a Coffey fly out, Leach reached on an error by the third baseman. Hedeen singled up the middle and Leach advanced to third. With Bethesda's outfielders leaving a large gap in left center, Morison pounded a hard groundball past the shortstop that found its way to the gap. He tripled in Leach and Hedeen. This brought the score to 16-8 through seven.
 
Rob Hill came in to pitch for the Warriors in the top of the eighth. He pounded the zone and quickly recorded a strikeout and two fly outs to get Westmont back to the dugout.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Euper came up as a pinch hitter and singled. Austin Muller pinch hit and reached on an error by the third baseman. Stefanic popped out. Euper and Muller advanced on a wild pitch. Coffey was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Pinch hitter Justin McPhail recorded his first hit and RBI of the year as he singled home Euper. Pinch hitter William Hoyer-Pingle notched an RBI with his bases loaded walk. Andrew Bayard lined out to the shortstop. Weiss recorded an RBI with a bases loaded walk of his own. Taylor Garcia came up and singled – scoring McPhail. This brought the game to its final score of 20-8 in favor of the Warriors.
 
Bailey Reid came in to throw the ninth for the Warriors. He too pounded the strike zone and quickly recorded a fly out and two strikeouts to finish off Bethesda. Ruiz said, "Rob and Bailey were the better versions of themselves today and it showed. Their tempo was great. They kept the ball down in the strike zone and threw their secondary pitches for strikes. We need those guys functioning at that level in the back end of our bullpen.
 
"It's out fifth game of the season – it's early. I have a lot of confidence in every guy that stepped on our field today and guys that didn't in this dugout. I believe in our team. I don't think we were our best on the mound today until we got to the seventh," added Ruiz.
 
Westmont now looks forward to their first road trip and first conference games of the season as they head to Arizona Christian for a three-game series this weekend. "I think going into this weekend we expect Arizona Christian to be better than they were last year and they were good last year. They've built up that program over the last couple of years. Those guys are hungry and it's a tough place to play," added Ruiz. "We are just trying to show up and be a little better as competitors than we were today. I think that's the goal and this team will be just fine."
 
The series opener is scheduled for Friday at 1:00 p.m. and will continue with a doubleheader Saturday with first-pitch scheduled for 10:00 a.m.