By Ron Smith
January 30, 2020
 
(GLENDALE, Ariz.) Westmont Baseball, ranked 15th in the NAIA, suffered its first loss of the young season, falling to Taylor (Ind.) by a score of 7-3 in the Coach Calderone Invitational hosted by Arizona Christian. The Warriors dropped to 1-1 on the season while Taylor improved to 6-0.
 
"Taylor is a great baseball program, they always have been," said Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz. "(Taylor Head) Coach (Kyle) Gould does a great job and his guys were prepared. I thought they were competitive on the mound and pitched with great tempo, they made plays on defense and made timely hits. When all those things are clicking for you, you are going to win baseball games. I give them a lot of credit."
 
It was the second game of the day for Taylor who had previously defeated #19 Lewis-Clark State of Idaho (1-1) by a score of 11-4.
 
"Westmont starter Cory Dawson (1-1) was charged with the loss after giving up five runs on seven hits in four and two-third innings. Dawson struck out 10 and walked two.
 
"Cory came out and set the tone early on the mound," said Ruiz. "I thought it was a solid start for him. He got squeezed a little bit early in the game and it elevated his pitch count. This early in the year, it is hard to get length out of your starters when the umpires are not giving you the bottom of the strike zone."
 
Two freshmen made their collegiate pitching debuts in today's game. Carlos Moreno pitched an inning and one-third, allowing two runs on one hit. Gabe Arteaga pitched the final two innings, giving up one run on one hit.
 
"I thought our freshman pitchers did a pretty good job," said Ruiz. "They were very competitive in the strike zone and kept the game close. We were in the ballgame until the last inning."
 
Taylor impacted the scoreboard first when Christian McGill singled to left field to drive in Connor Crawford from third.
 
The Warriors answered back in the top of the third when Isaiah Leach drove a single up the middle that scored freshman Brady Renck from second. Renck had reached on his first collegiate hit, then advanced to second on a single through the left side by Taylor Garcia.
 
In the bottom of the third, however, Westmont gave up three runs and was unable to close the resulting gap. Devin Perez led off the fourth inning with a home run to right field, making the score 4-2.
 
In the fifth inning, Taylor made it a 5-2 game when Brian Fields singled to left to drive in Crawford who had previously doubled.
 
A sacrifice fly by Zach Mendez brought home Perez from third in the top of the sixth to draw the Warriors to within two at 5-3, but those would be the last runs Westmont would score.
 
Taylor added a run in the bottom of the sixth on a bases-loaded walk and another in the bottom of the seventh when Kade Vander Molen singled into right center to drive in McGill.
 
"We made mistakes that made the game more spread out than it should have been," acknowledged Ruiz. "I thought our offense was a little sporadic. It needs to get more consistent. We just need to do a little bit more to be a more complete team. We are not doing enough collectively- putting together pitching and defense and scoring runs. That is relatively common for a younger team and we have some learning to do. We need to be a more complete baseball team and we are going to work to that end relentlessly until we get there."
 
The Warriors will look to add to their experience base tomorrow with a pair of games. At noon local time (11:00 a.m. PST), the Warriors will take on Antelope Valley (3-2). Then at 3:30 p.m. MST (2:30 p.m. PST), the Warriors are scheduled to take on Lewis-Clark State. Both games are to be played at Apollo High School.