By Zach DeMarcus       
May 2, 2018
 
(COSTA MESA, Calif.) Westmont Baseball (34-16) was eliminated this afternoon from the Golden State Athletic Conference Baseball Championships as they lost their second game of the double elimination tournament to Hope International (28-25) by a score of 8-10. Brody Weiss homered for the Warriors in the loss.
 
Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz said, "I think we were hot and cold as a team. We need to be a little more consistent. We played a really good team who came into this game playing like their season was on the line. I have a lot of respect for the way Hope played today. I think they came out and flat out competed from the first pitch to the last one. Those guys play hard."
 
Justin Sanders (7-2) took the mound for the Warriors and was charged with the loss. He gave up six runs in three and two-thirds innings.
 
Hope struck first in the bottom of the first. Frank Garriola hit a one-out single to the shortstop. Jeff Murray then drew a walk. Brandon Gonzalez followed with an RBI-single through the right side to score Garriola and push Murray to third. John Santospago continued the rally as he drew a walk to load the bases.
 
Blake Ronca hit a chopper down the third base line. Luke Coffey dove for the ball, but it nicked off the fingers of his glove into foul territory. Ronca reached second for a double to go with two RBIs – Murray and Gonzalez scored on the play. Sanders struck out the next batter for the second out of the inning. Jonah Dean-Hargroves reached first with an RBI-single as he checked his swing and hit a slow roller in between the pitcher's mound and the third base line – scoring Santospago for Hope's fourth run of the opening frame.
 
The Warriors responded in the top of the second as they sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning. Todd Yost drew a one-out walk. Bryce Morison followed with a single to right field. The right fielder over threw the third baseman – allowing Yost and Morison to advance to second and third on the throwing error. Dumser induced a Warrior pop out for the second out of the inning.
 
Travis Vander Molen drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases with two outs. Taylor Garcia hit the first pitch he saw into center field for a two RBI-single –Yost and Morison scored and Vander Molen advanced to third. Tyler Roper was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs – Hayden Euper came on as the courtesy runner.
 
The Royals went to the bullpen to face the ever dangerous Michael Stefanic. Stefanic hit a sharp groundball to the shortstop. The throw was in the dirt and bounced out of play. The throwing error pushed Stefanic to second base and allowed Vander Molen and Garcia to score – tying the game at four. Coffey continued the two-out rally with a single to center field. Euper and Stefanic scored the fifth and sixth two-out runs of the inning.
 
"I thought Todd did a prenominal job today. He made some unbelievable plays at shortstop, had some big hits, found his way on base, and started that big inning for us. The guy is just locked in for his team and did a great job today," added Ruiz.
 
After a one-two-three Royal bottom of the second, Brody Weiss hit a leadoff solo home run over the left field fence to start the top of the third – extending Westmont's lead to 7-4.
 
Back-to-back singles by Santospago and Ronca started the bottom of the third for the Royals. Tristan Hildebrandt reached first on a bunt to load the bases. Santospago was brought in by a sacrifice fly off the bat of Dean-Hargroves. Ronca then scored on a groundout to the shortstop from Jordan Achay – brining the score to 7-6 in favor of the Warriors through three innings.
 
With two outs and runners on first and second in the bottom of the fourth, left-hander Bay Buckley came on in relief for the Warriors. He coaxed a Hope groundout to escape the jam.
 
The Royals added two in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs and a runner on third, Garriola hit a 2-2 pitch over the left field fence for a two-run home run – reclaiming the lead for the Royals at 7-8.
 
Hope again added two in the sixth. Ronca hit an RBI-triple to score Santospago – who had walked. Ronca then scored from a sacrifice fly to right field off the bat of Hildebrandt – extending Hope's lead to 7-10.
 
The Warriors were able to chip at the deficit in the seventh. Coffey was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a groundout. Morison hit a two-out RBI-single to center field to score Coffey – bringing the Warriors within two of the Royals.
 
Bailey Reed came in and threw a one-two-three bottom of the seventh for the Warriors.
 
Westmont looked to brew a rally in the eighth against Hope's reliever Erickson Fish. Vander Molen led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch – William Hoyer-Pingle came in as the pinch runner. Garcia reached on a fielder's choice – Hoyer-Pingle was out at second. Fish was able to entice Roper and Stefanic to fly out to end the inning.
 
Reed again tossed a one-two-three frame in the eighth to keep Westmont within two runs heading into the top of the ninth. Ruiz said, "I think the biggest thing is that Bailey was good for us yesterday. We haven't really asked that much out of him this year in terms of the quantity. It wasn't a ton but it was more that he's gotten this year. It's a really good sign to see that he's ready for that. He was executing all of his pitches for strikes and everything was competitive. We expect big things outs of him going forward."
 
Westmont was unable to muster up a comeback as Fish sat the Warriors down in order in the ninth to pick up his third save of the year.
 
Westmont is in the middle of its finals week back home. This meant players had to study and take finals on the road all throughout the tournament. Ruiz said, "I won't make excuses for finals this week, but it was a big distraction. I had two starters today that showed up 30 minutes before the game started. I'm not saying it kills you, but it impacts. In a week and a half, we're going to be fresh, rested, and ready to compete."
 
Westmont is ranked number twenty in the country and is hopeful for receiving an at-large bid into the NAIA National Tournament. The Opening Round participants will be announced on May 9. Ruiz added, "I hope we get a chance to move on to the next round. I think we're good enough to do it. I think we've done enough to have an opportunity to do that.
 
"One thing I'd like to see our team do in the next round is to be more consistent with our approach and our energy. I want it to look the same every inning that we get to play. The rest of it is just playing the game we've been playing all year," finished Ruiz.