By Zach DeMarcus
March 1, 2019
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) #25 Westmont Baseball (13-2, 4-2 GSAC) won both ends of a Golden State Athletic Conference doubleheader today as they took down OUAZ (Ariz.) (8-5, 0-2 GSAC) 5-2 in game one and 3-1 in game two. Cory Dawson threw a complete-game two-hitter in game two for the Warriors.
 
Senior right-hander Grant Gardner took the mound for the Warriors in game one. He picked up his fourth win of the season as he went five and two thirds innings. Gardner surrendered two runs on five hits while striking out one against two walks.
 
Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz said, "We did a good job early in game one. We came out on the hunt. We were playing the game the right way. We scored those five runs in the first three innings, but I think we got a little complacent. I thought our pitching was outstanding"
 
The Warriors struck first in the bottom of the second. Bryce Morison hit a one-out triple to straight-away center field. Nicky Sablock followed with a 1-0 single up the middle to score Morison. Sablock then stole second base. Isaiah Leach stayed with an outside pitch and punched an RBI double down the right field line to score Sablock.
 
With runners on first and second, Zack Mendez hit a single to right field. OUAZ's right fielder Conner Lowrie threw a one hop strike to home plate to gun out Leach as he was attempting to score. Westmont grabbed the early 2-0 lead through two.
 
Westmont picked up a three spot in the bottom of the third. Taylor Bush hit a one-out single and Luke Coffey turned on a 1-0 inside fastball and cranked a two-run home run over the left field fence. Sablock reignited the rally with a double down the right field line. Leach hit his second RBI double down the right field line in as many innings to plate Sablock – giving Westmont the early 5-0 lead through three.

The Spirit picked up their first two hits of the game with one out in the top of the fourth with back-to-back singles by Chandler Reynard and Austin Shumaker. Gardner worked out of the jam by promptly enticing a groundout and a fly out to evade the threat.
 
OUAZ would get on the board in the top of the fifth. Adrian Salazar hit a lead-off double to right-center field. After a pop out, Salazar advanced to third on a wild pitch. Ryan Mortensen grounded out to third base allowing Salazar to score.
 
With one out in the sixth, Gardner found himself in trouble after hitting a batter, giving up a single, and surrendering a walk to load the bases. Salazar followed by hitting a sacrifice fly to left field to score a run. Gardner's afternoon would come to an end after issuing his second walk of the inning to again load the bases.
 
Westmont brought in right-hander Kody McLain to attempt to escape the jam with minimal damage. After falling behind 3-0 to pinch hitter Conner McKinney, McLain settled in by firing three straight fastballs past McKinney to record the strikeout and end the top of the sixth with just one OUAZ run scoring.
 
McLain hunkered down and finished the remainder of the game for the Warriors. His three and a third innings of work earned him his second save of the season. He struck out four and walked one while surrendering just two hits. Westmont took game one by a final score of 5-2.
 
Ruiz said, "Kody continued to prove that he's prepared. I thought he did an excellent job keeping that game where it was and not letting it get out of hand. He came in during a tough situation and had a big strike out, and really controlled the game from there. I was really happy to see his demeanor and being able to stay even and pitch through that game and secure the win.
 
"We happened to make an error in the ninth and you start to feel like things can unravel on you, but Kody got us another groundball and our guys turned the double play. That part of our mindset was good. Those guys stayed focused, didn't let the game speed up, and took care of it," noted Ruiz.
 
Dawson (3-1) was spectacular as he took the mound for game two. The left-hander faced just one over the minimum as he surrendered one run on two hits while striking out six against no walks. Ruiz said, "I thought today was his best start of the year. He looked really good. He was in attack mode. Cory was outstanding. He really put the team on his back. He's learning to be a starter and he's only getting better every week. We're really excited about this progress and what he did today."
 
Both Dawson and OUAZ's starter Hayden Durkiewicz were perfect through the first three innings. Taylor Garcia broke up the perfect game in the top of the fourth with a single through the right side. Westmont would, however, hit into a 1-6-3 double play.
 
With two outs in the fourth, Bush singled to left field. Coffey followed with a single to third base – both runners were awarded a free 90 feet as OUAZ's first baseman was called for obstruction during a pick-off attempt. The extra base wouldn't matter much as Morison drilled his second triple of the afternoon to center field to plate both Bush and Coffey.
 
The Spirit responded with their only run of game two in the top of the fifth from the result of two hits and a sacrifice fly.
 
Westmont took back the run in the bottom of the fifth. Leach doubled to deep left-center field to lead off the inning – he would advance to third on an errant pick-off attempt by the pitcher. With one out, Lucas Still was called on to pinch hit for the Warriors. He muscled a ball down the right field line to score Leach and retake the two-run advantage at 3-1.
 
Ruiz commented, "For Lucas, his goal has to be to get good swings off and he did. He came through for our team because mentally he was prepared for that at bat. I'm really happy for him. He's an unreal teammate. Those are the type of guys you want to see succeed in moments like those. You feel like they've earned it."
 
It's only fitting that Dawson ended his gem of an outing with his sixth strikeout of the game. Coach added, "I thought our defense did a good job in that second game. They really buckled down and played good defense behind Cory.
 
"I would add that Tyler Roper has been an unsung hero so far this season. Kyle Soria has been injured and Roper has been carrying the significant brunt of that. These conference games, if Roper physically is prepared to handle it we're going to give him the go ahead. That guy has been a game changer so far for us this season. He did a great job leading back there for us today," finished Ruiz.
 
The two clubs are scheduled to continue their four-game series with a doubleheader tomorrow starting at 11:00 a.m. Both teams will be prepared to make necessary adjustments as there is quite a bit of weather expected in the forecast.