By Zach DeMarcus
February 16, 2019
 
(FULLERTON, Calif.) Westmont Baseball (9-0) remains unbeaten as they continue their hot start. The Warriors played two opponents in Fullerton. Game one was a non-conference matchup against Hope International (8-2) with Westmont winning 12-10, and game two was against Bethesda (3-7) with the Warriors winning 8-3.
 
To start game one, the Warriors took advantage of a few 'free passes' in the top of the first. Tyler Roper was hit by a pitch with one out – Paul Mezurashi came on as the courtesy runner. Taylor Bush was hit by a pitch. The two advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Luke Coffey executed by grounding out to the shortstop – allowing Mezurashi to score.
 
Cory Dawson took the mound for the Warriors. He would give up four runs on five hits while striking out two over his four innings of work.
 
In the bottom of the first, Hope responded with a solo homerun off the bat of Daniel Hawkins.
 
Nicky Sablock led off the top of the second with a triple and Isaiah Leach followed with a two-run homerun. After an out, Zack Mendez doubled and then advanced to third on a passed ball. Taylor Garcia drew a walk. Mendez came around to score the Warriors' third run of the inning on a passed ball.
 
Westmont added two more in the top of the third. Leach reached on a one-out single. Travis Vander Molen grounded out to the second basemen – allowing Leach to advance to second. Mendez hit a two-out RBI single to score Leach and he would advance to second on the throw. Garcia followed with an RBI single to plate Mendez and extend Westmont's lead to 6-1.
 
The Royals responded with another solo homerun off the bat of Sam Cohen in the bottom of the third.
 
Bush hit his second homerun of the season in the top of the fourth to reclaim the five-run advantage. The Royals responded with two in the bottom half of the frame – bringing the score to 7-4 through four.
 
In the top of the sixth, Roper led off with a single – Mezurashi came on as the courtesy runner. Bush followed with a single – advancing Mezurashi to third. Mezurashi would score and Bush would advance to second on an error by the pitcher. Coffey hit an RBI double to plate Bush. Coffey would advance to third on a wild pitch and then score off an RBI single by Bryce Morison – extending Westmont's lead to 10-4.
 
The Royals responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth. Nolan Kraemer led off the inning with a double. He advanced to third on a fly out to center field off the bat of Will Davis. Kraemer would score on a passed ball.
 
Hope would tie the game at 10 by scoring five in the bottom of the eighth inning, but the Warriors reclaimed the lead in the top of the ninth. With two outs, Coffey reached on an error by the shortstop – bringing up the hot bat of Morison. Morison answered with a two-run homerun – putting the Warriors up by 12-10.
 
Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz said, "Certainly not the way you want to win that game, but it's awesome to see the way we responded. To give up five, and then to come back and do that was great. Bryce took advantage of his opportunity.
 
"He hit two homeruns out to right field tonight. It's nice to see him stay over that side of the plate and put a couple good swings on some pitches. It was a huge answer to a really tough inning. I was really excited that our guys showed that kind of resiliency."
 
Bailey Reid was awarded the win as he got the last five outs on the mound for the Warriors. He gave up a run, walked three, but recorded all five of his outs via the strikeout – stamping nearly a four-hour victory for the Warriors.
 
Right-hander Justin Sanders (2-0) took the mound in game two against Bethesda for the Warriors. Sanders threw six strong innings while giving up just two runs on five hits and striking out six. "Justin Sanders had really good temp on the mound. When he's throwing all of his pitches for strikes and he's got good temp, he can make a game move. I thought that he did a good job of that. He started to make the game move a little faster and helped us stay on our toes a little bit defensively and offensively," noted Ruiz.
 
Westmont struck first in the top of the second. Sablock led off with a double and the designated hitter Lucas Still followed with a two-run homerun. Ruiz noted, "We changed the lineup a little bit for game two. We determined that the morning before we got out there. Sure enough one of those guys, Lucas Still, hit a two-run homerun. Guys came in off the bench and started game two and picked us up.
 
The Flames got on the board in the bottom of the third. With one out, Gustavo Nieb drew a walk. Sanders then picked him off for the second out of the inning. Dylan Schafe hit a two-out single. Chris Carpio followed with an RBI double to score Schafe – bringing the score to 2-1 in favor of the Warriors through three.
 
Bethesda tied the game with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Hector Rodri drew a one-out walk – Louis Torner came on as the pinch runner. After a pop out, Torner advanced to second on a wild pitch. John Peukert followed with an RBI single to score Torner – brining the score to 2-2 through four.
 
The Warriors responded with four in the top of the fifth. Roper hit a lead-off single – Mezurashi came on to courtesy run. Bush drew a walk. After an out, Morison hit an RBI single to plate Mezurashi and advance bush to second. The lefty Sablock stepped up and hammered a three-run homerun to put Westmont up 6-2.
 
Ruiz said, "Sablock's homerun in the second game was big. We felt like we were back on our heels a little bit and he hit a big homerun for us."
 
Westmont added two more runs in the top of the seventh. Morison whacked his second homerun of the two games over the right field fence for a solo homerun. Later, with runners on first and third with no outs, Alex Stufft grounded into a fielder's choice to the shortstop – scoring Mezurashi.
 
Eric Oseguera came on to throw the seventh and the eighth. He promptly sat the first six Flames batters he faced down to put in two perfect innings of work. Austin Sisley threw the ninth and gave up one run – bringing game two to its final score of 8-3.
 
"I told the team at the end of the second game that this may be the hardest game of our season to win," recalled coach. "We were coming off a game where we were playing a conference opponent in a non-conference game with tons of energy and excitement and it was a long game, and you win it in the ninth. It was really easy to feel like you couldn't match what you just came out of, but I thought they stayed focused and had good at bats.
 
"I thought Bryce and Nick Sablock both did a good job having some clutch at bats when we needed them today. Those things carried our team at a time when we needed it. I was excited to see that out of those two guys.
 
"I think we're a lot better today than we were three weeks ago. We feel good about that. We know it's going to be a dogfight every weekend when we go out in conference play. We certainly expect to see that in William Jessup (6-1). They're a highly ranked opponent and they are also off to a good start. We know it'll be a good game and we're looking forward to it," finished Ruiz.
 
Westmont will open up GSAC play next Friday and Saturday with a four game series against #13 William Jessup. Both Friday's and Saturday's doubleheaders are scheduled for an 11:00 a.m. start time.