(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) A five-run sixth inning for British Columbia (Can.) (5-8) proved to be too much to come back from as Westmont Baseball (10-6) dropped their non-conference matchup against the Thunderbirds this afternoon 6-9.
 
Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz said, "It was a disappointing start to the game. It's deflating when we continue to dig a hole for ourselves early in games and have to fight our way out all the time. We weren't good enough at the little things in the game of baseball from start to finish to give ourselves a chance to win that game – we got out competed."
 
Junior Sean Coyne took the mound for the Warriors for his first start of the year. He struggled through two innings – giving up three runs, two earned, walking three, and striking out two.
 
The Thunderbirds struck first in the top of the second inning. Braeden Allemann led off the inning with a four-pitch walk. Anthony Cusati sharply hit a ball past the sliding Taylor Garcia at third base for a double. With one out, Jaxon Valcke grounded out to a diving Michael Stefanic at second base – Allemann scored on the fielder's choice. Kyle McComb followed with a single through the left side to score Cusati. McComb would steal second and then advance to third on an errant pickoff attempt by Coyne. Jake Lanferman finished the scoring off with an RBI-single through the right side to score McComb.
 
Left-hander Cory Dawson came in to throw three innings of scoreless baseball. He struck out one and gave up two hits as he kept the thunderbirds at bay. Ruiz said, "Cory was phenomenal. He was who we needed in that moment. He's been consistent all year. He's a prime piece in our bullpen right now and continues to prove that he's ready."
 
The Warriors would respond in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings with back-to-back two-run innings. In the fourth with one out, Luke Coffey doubled down the left field line. Coffey advanced to third as Henry Hedeen grounded out to the first baseman. Brody Weiss followed with a double down the left field line to score Coffey. Austin Muller singled over the shortstop's head to score Weiss – bringing the score to 2-3 in favor of British Columbia.
 
Kyle Soria led off the bottom of the fifth with a double to the right center gap – Hayden Eueper came on as the courtesy runner. Garcia reached first on a hit by pitch. Isaiah Leach laid down a sacrifice bunt and reached on a throwing error by the pitcher – Euper scored and Garcia and Leach were awarded a base as the ball ended up in the dugout. Stefanic scored Garcia on a fielder's choice groundout to the shortstop – giving Westmont a 4-3 lead.
 
The Warrior lead wouldn't last long as the Thunderbirds responded with five runs in the top of the sixth. Westmont's Andrew Sim struggled to contain British Columbia's lineup. John Whaley led off with a first-pitch single to left field. With a 1-0 count Allemann homered to right field to give the Thunderbirds back the lead.
 
Cusati continued the rally with a single and Valcke drew a walk. Zach Prisciak singled to right field to load up the bases. McComb hit a chopper up the middle that was mishandled by shortstop Weiss – two runs scored on the error. With runners on first and third and one out, Austen Butler laid down a sacrifice bunt that Sim fielded and went to first with – McComb scored on the play to extend the Thunderbirds' lead to 8-4.
 
Westmont responded in the bottom half of the sixth. Weiss led off with a walk and Zack Mendez came in to pinch hitter. With a 2-1 count, Mendez sent the following pitch over the right field fence and pounded the waving Canadian flag soaring to the right of the scoreboard – cutting the four-run deficit to two.
 
Left-hander Dylan Sund came on in the seventh inning and would throw one and a third innings. He pounded the strike zone as he gave up one hit and an unearned run. "Dylan had a great bounce-back outing. His last outing he struggled with command. He's been working really hard in practice. I'm super excited for that guy and how he came back. He was a different person today," added Ruiz.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, the Warriors trailed by three. With one out, Mendez tripled for his second hit of the day. After a pop out for the second out, Kyle Soria and Garcia were both hit by pitches to load the bases. Westmont would come up empty as Leach popped up to the shortstop to end the inning.
 
Ruiz said, "Zack Mendez did a great job coming off the bench with a home run and a triple. He's young, but he's going to be a really good hitter in our program. It was good to see him get going a little bit today."
 
The Warriors three, four, and five hitters would be sat down in order in the bottom of the ninth – ending the game with the final score 6-9 in favor of the Thunderbirds.
 
Ruiz added, "It felt like an uphill battle all day. We'd finally get close and then we'd give up another big inning. In baseball, those things are going to happen, but you have to minimize them. I take no credit away from British Columbia. I think they have a great program and I have a ton of respect for the way that they go about their business.
 
"I don't feel like we played baseball to the level that we're capable of. That's been the case for the last couple of weeks and we need to figure out how to get back on track. There were some bright spots for sure, but top to bottom we didn't play good enough baseball to win," finished Ruiz.
 
The Warriors return to the field this weekend as they host Menlo for a three-game series Friday and Saturday. Friday's game is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and Saturday's doubleheader begins at 11:00 a.m.