By Jacob Norling
February 20, 2021
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) After a pair of thrilling come-from-behind wins on Friday, #13 Westmont Baseball (9-3, 4-0) finished off a series sweep of San Diego Christian (2-9, 0-4) on Saturday, taking both ends of a doubleheader. Game one was a close contest with a final score of 4-2, and then Westmont blew it open in the series finale, defeating the Hawks 10-1.
After the Westmont pitching staff surrendered thirteen walks on Friday, Gabe Arteaga and company put a stop to the recurrence of free passes, allowing only two base on balls during the first game of Saturday's double header.
Arteaga threw ninety-nine pitches in six innings of work and picked up his second win of the season, holding the Hawks to only two runs. After striking out only five batters combined in his first two starts of the season, Arteaga fanned a season high seven Hawks in his six innings.
The game remained scoreless going into the fourth inning, thanks to Westmont left fielder, Lennie Rodriguez, who made one of the most spectacular catches in recent memory for the Warriors.
With a man on second and two outs, Arteaga made one of his only mistake pitches of the afternoon to Johnny Radomskiy, who hit a skyscraping fly ball down the left field line. Rodriguez was off and running at the crack of the bat, quickly finding his way to the left field corner. Rodriguez timed his jump perfectly to reach over the wall, make the catch, and steal two huge runs from the Hawks, who ultimately lost game one by two runs precisely.
After falling behind one run in the top of the fifth, Westmont quickly got that run back on an RBI-single by Simon Reid. Then, in the bottom of the sixth inning with a man aboard, redshirt freshman Parker O'Neil hit his first career Westmont home run just below the scoreboard in right center, giving the Warriors a lead they would not relinquish.
Following the O'Neil homer, freshman Chase Goddard came on in relief and provided Westmont with two and two-third innings of relief, only giving up an unearned run in his third appearance as a Warrior.
It appeared for a moment that Goddard was going to have a chance for a three inning save, but the Hawks put pressure on him and the Warriors in the ninth inning, putting runners at the corners with two outs.
Holding on to a 4-2 lead, Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz elected to go to the bullpen for the twenty-seventh out, this time handing the ball to to sophomore Robbie Haw. Haw wasted no time, striking out Johnny Radomskiy on three pitches, while picking up his first career save.
Game two on Saturday was the only contest of the series that avoided supplying late game dramatics, mostly due to Westmont starter, Ryan Humpreys, who tossed a complete game in the series finale.
Humphreys labored at times, throwing one-hundred and eleven pitches while walking five batters, but he avoided trouble due to the fact that he held the Hawks to one lone hit all game long. Humphreys was able to wiggle in and out of trouble by often relying on his breaking ball late in counts. Humphreys ultimately collected eight strikeouts en route to his second win of the season.
In regards to both Arteaga and Humpreys, Coach Ruiz stated, "We got two great starts today that really set the tone for the rest of the day, especially with it taking us a while to get going offensively."
As Westmont's fourth starter a year ago, Humphreys was notorious for not getting any run support from the Westmont lineup. While posting only a 3.33 ERA over twenty-seven innings, Humphreys wore a losing record at 1-5, and after only three appearances this season, he has already doubled last season's win total.
As if trying to make up for last year's shortcomings, Westmont hitters put up four runs in the first inning, before tacking on two more by the end of the third.
Lennie Rodriguez opened up the scoring in the first inning when he wore a fastball off his shoulder with the bases loaded; Rodriguez wound up being hit by a pitch three times on Saturday, while also tallying a walk. Rodriguez's slash line to start the season is a peculiar one. As he currently still searches for his first hit, his on base percentage rose above three hundred due to San Diego Christian's inability to throw him strikes.
In the bottom of the second inning, John Jensen continued his torrid start, sending his fifth home run of the season over the left field wall, showcasing impressive opposite field power. Jensen remains Westmont's leading hitter after the first weekend of GSAC play, currently hitting .548 with an outrageous 1.722 OPS.
Among other things, Alex Stufft capped off another productive weekend with a pair of RBIs and a double, currently leading the Warriors in the former category with nineteen through twelve games.
A run scoring groundout in the seventh inning was the only blemish against the Warriors during game two. With action in the Warriors bullpen, Ryan Humpreys was able to avoid the hook by inducing a game ending groundout, and securing the series sweep.
Coach Ruiz spoke humbly in regards to his team's performance, saying, "We did enough to get the job done, it wasn't always pretty but we found a way to get runs across and do just enough on the mound and defensively to keep us in games and gives us a chance to win."
Westmont will travel on the road next weekend to play Azusa Pacific, where Coach Ruiz served as an assistant coach prior to his arrival at Westmont. The weekend will be exciting for Warrior fans as the team will reunite with former Westmont starter, Corey Dawson, who is now pitching for for the Cougars.
Westmont resumes GSAC play in two weeks when they travel to Fullerton on March 5 and 6 to take on Hope International.
Spectators will not be permitted to attend games in person, due to state and local COVID-19 mandates. To follow next week's of action, fans can watch live broadcasts at https://athletics.apu.edu/watch/?Live=129&type=Live on the Azusa Pacific website.
