By Zach DeMarcus
February 14, 2019
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) #25 Westmont Baseball (7-0) survived the rain and #5 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) (2-3) this afternoon by a score of 7-1. Travis Vander Molen went three for four with two homeruns – one of which being an inside-the-park homerun. 
 
Senior right-hander Grant Gardner (2-0) took the mound for Westmont. Gardner would give Westmont seven innings of one-run baseball. Gardner gave up just five hits and one run while striking out six against one walk.
 
Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz said, "He's a consistent competitor. Regardless of what he has on any given day, you know what you're going to get out of him from a heart stand point. I thought he was awesome today. He continued to make big pitches when he needed to even when he got himself into trouble. I thought he proved why he's in the role that he's in."
 
In the top of the first, Zach Needham reached first on a one-out infield single to third base. Kyle Callahan followed by drawing a walk. Gardner settled in and coaxed Darren Trainor to bounce into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
 
Taylor Garcia led off the bottom of the first by sitting back on a hung curve ball and driving it up the middle for a single. After a strikeout, Taylor Bush and Luke Coffey drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for Bryce Morison. Morison hit a deep fly ball to center field to bring in Garcia – snagging the early 1-0 lead.
 
Coffey stepped up to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the third and hit a 2-1 fastball over the right field fence for his first homerun of the young season – extending Westmont's lead to 2-0 through three.
 
With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Travis Vander Molen sent a ball sailing to left-center field. Lewis-Clark's center fielder Jacob Gribbin gave chase and leapt for the ball while slamming into the fence. He missed the ball by a matter of inches and remained on the ground for a few seconds. This allowed Vander Molen to make it all the way around the bases for an inside-the-park homerun. Gibbins would stay in the game.
 
Westmont would chase Lewis-Clark State's starting pitcher Lalo Porras with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Porras finished by surrendering three runs through three and two-thirds innings pitched to go along with five strikeouts. Andrew Najeeb-Brush came in and got a Westmont fly out from the first batter he faced to end the fourth.
 
In the fifth, Jeff Bart hit a lead-off single. Gardner threw a ball in the dirt that Roper blocked nicely. Bart thought about taking second and left himself 15 feet off first base. Roper fired to Vander Molen at first to pick Bart off. The weight of the play was felt after the following batter Kody Garbin stepped up and hit a no-doubt solo homerun over the right field fence to put Lewis-Clark State on the board. Roper's pickoff kept Westmont up by two with the score at 3-1 through five innings.
 
Vander Molen led off the sixth and answered any 'lack-of-power' comments his teammates may have thrown at him from his previous at bat and hit the first pitch he saw well over the right field fence for his second homerun of the game.
 
With one out, Garcia singled to right field. Roper reached on an error by the third baseman – Paul Mezurashi came on as the courtesy runner. Bush then hit an RBI single to right center to plate Garcia and advance Mezurashi to third. Coffey followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to score Mezurashi – giving Westmont a 6-1 leads through six.
 
"What really stood out to me (offensively) is in some tight innings, when we had guys on third with less than two outs, we executed our sacrifice flies. Those runs, over the long period of the game, made a difference in terms of the cushion we had," noted Ruiz.
 
Vander Molen gathered his third hit of the afternoon with a slicing double over the left fielder's head in the seventh. Ruiz said, "He took some good swings today. I think he's someone that's really pushing himself to get better. He was ready to play. I know he's capable of being that type of hitter and I'm excited to see it start to come out."
 
Westmont added their seventh run of the game in the bottom of the eighth. Garcia drew a lead-off walk and Roper laid down a sacrifice bunt to push Garcia to second. After a Westmont Strikeout, Coffey hit a two-out RBI double off the base of the center field fence to plate Garcia – Garcia finished with three hits, a walk, and three runs scored
 
Ruiz of Garcia, "That's why we like having Taylor in the lead-off spot. He's a sparkplug and gets out offense going. He's a tough out. Him getting on base is a game changer. It makes the pitcher have to pitch in the stretch and have to make big pitches to guys in the middle of our lineup. I think what he offered to this team today is unseen, but it really helped our offense do what it did."
 
Kody McLain took the mound for Westmont in the eighth. He was masterful in his two inning of work as he struck out three Lewis-Clark batters in the eighth, the first with a curveball, the second with a fastball, and the third with a changeup. He added two more strikeouts in the ninth while surrendering just one hit.
 
Ruiz noted, "I was very excited about Kody's outing as well. I loved his demeanor. He was in attack mode. He wasn't afraid of whoever was on the other side. I just love the fact that he got on the mound ready to compete and didn't back down. He had good stuff. He executed all of his pitches for strikes and when he does that he's going to be tough to hit."
 
Of the rainy day circumstances coach added, "There was a pretty heavy storm this morning. We got lucky that we even got the field ready and that Lewis-Clark State was willing to come out and see if we could get it in. I thought we came out absolutely focused and ready to play.
 
"When your pre-game changes like that, your hope would be that guys are mentally locked in and ready to compete regardless. I think our guys proved that they could do that today. That was a good sign. Top to bottom I think we played good baseball," finished Ruiz.
 
Weather permitting, Westmont will travel to face Pomona-Pitzer tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. They will stay on the road and play a non-conference game against Hope International Saturday at 3:00 p.m. followed with a 6:00 p.m. game against Bethesda – both games will be played in Fullerton.