By Zach DeMarcus
March 10, 2019
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Baseball (19-2) completed a four-game sweep of visiting Oregon Tech today by winning both ends of a doubleheader by scores of 7-0 and 8-3. The Warriors are now riding an eight-game winning streak.
 
Junior right-hander Justin Sanders took the mound for game one. Sanders continued his strong start by tossing seven shutout innings and picking up his fourth win of the season. The righty gave up six hits while striking out eight against just one walk. Sanders lowered his ERA on the season to 0.78
 
Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz said, "I think he continued to be the guy that he's been all year – an up tempo pitcher and ultra-competitive. He's throwing all of his pitches to both sides of the plate. He was falling behind hitters and had a lot of three-ball counts. Just when we thought we might have to pull him maybe after four or five he had a couple quick innings.
 
"He found a way to get better in the middle of that outing. If you just look at the runs each inning you'd think he was the same guy all day, but he actually got a lot better in the second half of that game. He set the tone for the day on the mound – no question about it," noted Ruiz.
 
Luke Coffey got the Warriors on the board early in the bottom of the first. With two outs, Coffey turned on a pitch and hit it well over the left field fence for a solo home run – his sixth of the season.
 
Westmont struck again in the bottom of the second. Nicky Sablock led off the inning by being hit by a pitch. After a fly out, Austin Muller hit a single to left field. Andrew Bayard reached on a fielder's choice – Muller called out at second and Sablock advanced to third. Senior Kyle Soria, getting his first start of the season behind the dish, hit an RBI single to left field to score Sablock – Paul Mezurashi came on as the courtesy runner.
 
Taylor Garcia kept the rally alive with an RBI single up the middle to score Bayard and push Mezurashi to second. Taylor Bush finished the three-run inning with an RBI single to left field to score Mezurashi – extending Westmont's lead to 4-0 through two.
 
The Warriors added another run in the bottom of the fourth. Soria hit a lead-off single to left – Mezurashi came back on as the courtesy runner. Garcia hit a single to push Mezurashi to second. Coffey hit a groundball to third, Mezurashi was out due to the force play at third, but the Oregon Tech third baseman through the ball over the first baseman's head – allowing Garcia to advance to third on the throwing error. Bryce Morison cashed in on the error by hitting an RBI single to right field to plate Garcia.
 
Sanders found himself in some trouble in the top of the sixth inning. Kai Fong hit a one-out single and would advance to second on a wild pitch. Micah Jio grounded out to shortstop and allowed Fong to advance to third. Sanders with a full count on clean-up batter Josh Kallstrom, reached back and located a fastball on the outside corner to get Kallstrom looking to end the inning.
 
The Warriors added their sixth run in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Sablock singled to right field. Travis Vander Molen followed by drawing a walk. After a fly out, Bayard hit an RBI single to center field to score Sablock.
 
Pinch hitter Sage Pera stepped up to the plate to lead off the eighth for Westmont. The freshman hit a shot out to right center that slammed into the middle of the scoreboard for his first collegiate home run – putting Westmont up by the game's eventual final score of 7-0.
 
Will Anderson took over duties on the bump in the eighth for the Warriors. The left-hander scattered three hits over the final two frames while hanging up two zeros to secure Westmont's seventh shutout of the season.
 
Seven different Warrior hitters recorded RBIs in the game showing the collective offensive approach. "I thought they were consistent today offensively," noted Ruiz. "That hasn't necessarily been how I've described our offense all year. Today they were consistent and when we're consistent at the plate, I think we're going to give ourselves a chance to win almost any game we take part in."
 
Eric Oseguera took the mound for the Warriors in the seven-inning game. The freshman right-hander would go four innings as he improved to 2-1 on the season. Oseguera gave up two runs on four hits while striking out three against zero walks.
 
Oseguera got into a little trouble in the top of the first. Kai Fong led off the game with a single to center field. Fong was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tristan Shea. Micah Jio followed with a two-run home run to bring in Fong and give Oregon Tech their first runs of the day.
 
The Warriors would respond with a four spot in the bottom of the second. Vander Molen reached first on an error to lead off the inning. Isaiah Leach singled through the right side. After a pop out, Pera came on to pinch hit for the second straight game. Pera promptly singled through the left side to score Vander Molen – Mezurashi came on as the pinch runner for Pera.
 
Garcia reached first on a beautiful bunt single to load the bases. Bush continued the rally by hitting a two-RBI double to right center to score Leach and Mezurashi. Garcia would score on a wild pitch for the fourth run of the inning.
 
Westmont added another run in the bottom of the third as Sablock hit a lead-off double. After a strikeout, Sablock would advance to third on a Warrior groundout. Chad Jones hit an RBI single down the left field line to plate Sablock.
 
The Warriors extended their lead to five in the fourth. Garcia hit a lead-off double down the right field line. Bush followed with a single through the right side – pushing Garcia to third. Coffey hit a line drive up the middle for an RBI single to score Garcia. Morison hit a fly ball to right field that Bush tagged up on to advance to third. With two outs, Vander Molen hit an RBI single to left field to score Bush – bringing the score to 7-2 through four.
 
Sean Coyne came on in relief in the fifth for the Warriors. Coyne gave up a run in the fifth and found himself in some trouble in the sixth. With one out and runners on first and third, Coyne settled in and escaped the jam with a strikeout and a fly out.
 
Westmont scored their eighth and final run of the game in the bottom of the sixth. Coffey reached on an error by the shortstop to lead off the inning. After two fly outs, Coffey advanced to second on a wild pitch. Vander Molen hit an RBI single up to the middle to center field to score Coffey.
 
Bailey Reid came in to finish the game in the seventh. He struck out the first two batters he faced. Reid then surrendered a single up the middle before finishing his inning with his third strike out to end the game and complete the four-game sweep of Oregon Tech.
 
"Our guys have certainly been playing good baseball. I'm happy with the way that we've responded to different challenge each week. We've stayed focused on our goals of improving week by week and day by day. We're getting better in some areas. I think we're certainly a better team today than we were a month ago. We need to do that over the course of a long season to be where you want to be in May," commented Ruiz.
 
Of the pitching core, Ruiz added, "I have to give credit to our starters and our pitching coach Tony Cougoule. They've done an excellent job of preparing themselves for this four game series. Our starting pitching has been outstanding. They've been consistently throwing strikes."
 
The Warriors will head on the road next weekend to play a four-game Golden State Athletic Conference series against Menlo. Friday's doubleheader is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. with Saturday's double-dip slated for an 11:00 a.m. first pitch.