By Zach DeMarcus
March 9, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Baseball (15-10, 8-8 GSAC) split a Golden State Athletic Conference doubleheader this afternoon against Hope International (15-13, 7-10 GSAC). Westmont took the first game 7-1 and dropped game two 0-11.
 
Grant Gardner took the mound for the Warriors in game one and was lights out. He threw a complete game to pick up his fifth win of the season to go with zero losses. He gave up three hits, struck out six, and walked none. The lone run he gave up was unearned.
 
Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz said, "I thought Grant did a phenomenal job in game one of just attacking the strike zone. I don't even think he had his best stuff. He just competed well and gave us a chance."
 
Hope struck first in the opening frame of the game. Nolan Kraemer led off the game with a single. He then stole second and was advanced to third on a groundout. With two outs, a pass ball allowed Kraemer to come in to score.
 
Jeff Murray singled to start the top of the second for Hope. He was then thrown out at second on a sacrifice bunt attempt – allowing John Santospago to reach on a fielder's choice. Santospago was then caught stealing. Gardner struck out Tristan Hildebrandt to end the inning.
 
The strikeout started an impressive streak for Gardner. Including Hildebrandt, he went on to retire 15 straight Royal batters. The next Royal to reach base was Frank Garriola when he reached first on an error with two outs in the seventh inning.
 
The Warriors responded with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Taylor Garcia led off with a double down the left field line. He advanced to third on a groundout to the shortstop by Taylor Bush. Michael Stefanic followed with an RBI groundout to second base to plate Garcia and tie the game.
 
Westmont struck again in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Garcia snagged his second hit of the game with a single to right field. Bush followed suit with a single to center field. Stefanic continued the single-a-thon with a single to right field scoring Garcia and advancing Bush to third -- Stefanic would advance to second on a throwing error by the right fielder. Luke Coffey came up to this dish and hammered a 0-2 pitch over the left field fence for a three-run home run – putting Westmont up 5-1 through three innings.
 
The Warriors added two more in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Travis Vander Molen and Tyler Roper hit back-to-back singles – Hayden Eueper came on as the courtesy runner for Roper. William Hoyer-Pingle advanced Vander Molen and Euper 90 feet on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Garcia hit a two RBI-single up the middle scoring the runners – bringing the game to its eventual final score of 7-1.
 
Ruiz added of game one, "The hitters took advantage of the things that they were given. We had some timely hitting and some good two strike hits that really made a difference in that game."
 
David Gaydos (2-3) started on the mound for Westmont in the seven inning second game. He went four and one-third innings. He gave up seven hits and two runs and would finish with two strikeouts and two walks in the loss.
 
"I thought Gaydos gave us a good start. It was really encouraging to see him taking that step in that direction. Offensively, we really couldn't get a whole lot going behind him," said Ruiz.
 
Westmont was out hit two to 16 in game two. Guillermo Sanchez took the mound for Hope and pitched a complete-game shutout – he struck out five and walked one. Ruiz said, "I didn't think we had very competitive at-bats for the good portion of that game. We didn't put a whole lot of pressure on that pitcher. He put us on our heels and kept us there. I'm taking no credit away from him. I just think we could have had some more competitive at-bats.  
 
Hope kicked off the scoring in the top of the third. With one out, Kraemer singled to center field. Brandon Gonzalez reached on a fielder's choice – Kraemer was thrown out at second. Garriola singled to left field to advance Gonzalez to third. Murray followed with an RBI-single down the left field line to score Gonzalez.
 
Hope added another run in the top of the fifth. Kraemer again led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Gonzalez grounded out to first base to push Kraemer to third base. Kraemer would then score on a wild pitch. Cory Dawson came in to relieve Gaydos with one out in the inning.
 
Santospago led off the top of the top of the sixth with a single for Hope. He then advanced to second on a balk by Dawson. Hildebrandt doubled to right field to score Santospago. Will Davis came on to pinch hit for Josh Balbuena. Davis reached first on a drag bunt single down the third base line – advancing Hildebrandt to third. Kraemer then walked to load the bases with nobody out.
 
Dawson enticed Gonzalez to pop up to the shortstop before Garriola singled to right center to plate Hildebrandt and Davis. Bailey Reid came in to relieve Dawson with runners on first and third and one out. Murray quickly singled up the middle to score Kraemer. Garriola and Murray then advanced 90 feet on a double steal.
 
Jonah Dean-Hargroves walked to load the bases. A wild pitch by Reid allowed all the runners to advance a base – scoring Garriola. Blake Ronca hit a double down the left field line to score Murray and Dean-Hargroves. Left-hander Bay Buckley came in to relieve Reid with one out and a runner on second base.
 
Buckley walked the first batter he faced in Santospago. Ronca and Santospago advanced on a wild pitch and they would both score on a two RBI-single by Hildebrandt. Balbuena followed with a single. Buckley struck out the next two batters to end the nine run inning – the Royals extended their lead to 11-0.
 
Rob Hill came in to throw a scoreless seventh inning for the Warriors.
 
"We were really good and then we were not really good. I guess the appropriate way to sum it is we were inconsistent. We've struggled with that a little bit this year. We have to figure out how to be the same team every game. If we can figure that out, I think we can be really good," finished Ruiz.
 
The Warriors and the Royals will play their third game of the three game series on Monday at 2:30 p.m. The two teams will not play tomorrow due to the forecasted rain.