By Zach DeMarcus
February 23, 2019
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Baseball (11-2, 2-2 GSAC) split for the second day in a row a Golden State Athletic Conference doubleheader against William Jessup (8-3, 2-2 GSAC). Westmont won the first game off a walk-off single from senior Bryce Morison 1-0 and dropped game two 2-5.
 
Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz said, "In game one, I really felt like Justin Sanders and Kody McLain absolutely carried our team. It was awesome to see that. They pitched in such a tight game when we couldn't get any kind of offense going. They fought and they battled. They were outstanding."
 
Justin Sanders took the mound for the Warriors in game one. He scattered six hits over seven shutout innings while striking out three and walking one.
 
In the top of the third, Sanders gave up back-to-back one out singles. He was able to entice the next two Jessup hitters to fly out – avoiding the threat.
 
William Jessup called on Micah Gunter to take the mound for the visiting Warriors. Gunter went four and two-thirds innings and gave up just two hits while striking out five and walking one.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, Isaiah Leach hit a one-out single through the right side – he then advanced to second on a Gunter balk. Gunter followed by issuing his only walk of the game to Travis Vander Molen. Gunter settled in by striking out Westmont's next batter for the second out.
 
William Jessup then elected to go to the bullpen to bring in right-hander Brett Wetteland. Wetteland got Taylor Garcia to groundout to the second baseman to escape the jam. Wetteland threw three and a third innings and would eventually get charged for the loss. He finished with four strikeouts and gave up just four hits, but gave up the game-deciding run in the ninth.
 
Sanders retired the final six batters that he faced to finish his seven strong inning. McLain came on to pitch the eighth for Westmont where he sat the first three Jessup hitters he faced down via a strikeout, groundout, and pop out.
 
McLain came back on in the ninth where he coaxed Joseph Starick to pop out to the shortstop. Will Law followed with a single – Grant Doi came on to pinch run. McLain then struck out Cal Koga for the second out of the ninth. Doi advanced to second on a passed ball. Josh Duitsman came up to the plate and with a 1-2 count McLain reared back and fired a fastball on the outside corner past the looking Duitsman for strike three.
 
Luke Coffey led off the ninth for Westmont. After a failed drag attempt, Coffey sat back on a curve ball and drove a double down the left field line – Paul Mezurashi came on as the pinch runner. With an 0-1 count, Morison punched a sharp grounder past the diving second baseman into center field. Mezurashi was waved in and slid head first across home plate to give Westmont the 1-0 walk-off victory.
 
"I feel like those guys stuck with their approach. Luke gets a big hit and Bryce gets a big hit – I don't think either of them had a hit until that inning," noted Ruiz. "It's really easy to try and be a hero there. We hope that our seniors that have the experience that Luke and Bryce have will continue to be guys that we can count in those big situations. It was fun to see them have success there."
 
Eric Oseguera was given the ball for game two. He gave up three runs on six hits while striking out one.
 
Jessup struck first in the top of the second. Law singled to second base to lead off the inning. After a fly out, Law advanced to second on a balk. Koga followed with an RBI single to center field to plate Law – giving Jessup the early 1-0 lead.
 
William Jessup added two in the top of the third. Kawaiola Takemura hit a one-out single. Austen Swift followed with a single through the right side – Takemura was running on the pitch and would take third on the hit-and-run. Anders Green hit a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Takemura.
 
Will Law followed with a two-out single – advancing Swift to second. Grant St. Martin hit an RBI single down the left-field line to score Swift. Left fielder Nicky Sablock got the ball to shortstop Taylor Bush who fired home to Roper to tag Law out for the third out of the inning.
 
Westmont looked to cut into the three-run deficit in the bottom of the fourth as Morison led off with a single. After a fly out, Isaiah Leach doubled to right center – pushing Morison to third. After Steven Talbert coaxed another Westmont batter to fly out, Austin Muller came on as a pinch hitter. With an 0-2 count, Muller hit a curveball into the right center gap for a two-RBI single to bring Westmont within one of Jessup at 2-3 through four.
 
"We asked Austin Muller to come in during a big situation with second and third and two outs. He hits that base hit to right center with two strikes and gets it to a one-run game. If this game had any chance of going the other way, that at bat was an absolutely critical one. It's awesome to see him come in ready and have that at bat in that situation. It gave us life and made as all believe that we had a chance to win that game," commented Ruiz.
 
Will Anderson came in and hung up two big zeros in the fourth and the fifth innings for Westmont. Anderson gave up one hit, struck out one, and walked one in his two innings of scoreless work.
 
Toby Dunlap came on to throw the sixth for Westmont. He walked the first two batters that he faced. Westmont elected to bring McLain back in for his second outing of the day. Koga squared and placed a sacrifice bunt down the first base line – pushing Grant Doi to third and St. Martin to second.
 
McLain had a full count on Josh Duitsman and reached back and blew a high fastball past the swinging Duitsman to record the second out of the inning. Bailey Reid was then asked to come and take over duties on the mound.
 
With two outs, Jessup sent pinch hitter Joseph Starick to the plate. Reid, struggling with control, walking the first three hitters he faced – bringing in two runs in the process. Reid got a fly out to end the inning. Jessup scored two runs in the inning without recording a hit – bringing the score to 5-2 through six.
 
McLain came through in both games for Westmont. Ruiz noted, "It's the first time we've asked him to do that this season. I was very pleased with his competitiveness and his ability to get big outs in really tough situations."
 
Right-hander Nolan Cannon came on with a runner on first and no outs in the seventh. Cannon promptly got a line out, fly out, and a strikeout to give Westmont their last chance for a comeback in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Jordan Yu stifled Westmont's hopes by sitting the first three Westmont batters down in order to end the game. Yu threw the final three innings for William Jessup and was awarded the save. The final score was 5-2 in favor of William Jessup – knotting the four-game series up at two games apiece.
 
Westmont will return to Russ Carr Field for back-to-back GSAC doubleheaders against OUAZ (Ariz.) next Friday and Saturday. Both doubleheaders are scheduled for an 11:00 a.m. start time.