By Jacob Norling
April 9, 2021
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) (RV) Westmont (23-16, 16-10 GSAC) traded wins with #12 Hope International (23-11, 18-8) on Friday in the first two games of a pivotal four game series. In the Golden State Athletic Conference standings the Royals are currently half a game back of first place #6 Vanguards, with Westmont two back of the Royals. With a postseason intensity present, the Royals took game one 9-5 and the Warriors bounced back and took the second game 4-3.
 
"This time of the year it's postseason baseball," said Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz. "You have to fight to give less away than they do and try to play a perfect baseball game which is hard to do but at this point in the season we have to demand the best of ourselves."
 
In game one the two sides were tied at four through five innings when starter Chad Stoner walked two batters including one with the bases loaded to surrender the lead. With the bases still juiced, Coach Ruiz opted to go to the bullpen for southpaw Will Andersen.
 
Against the first batter he faced, Andersen got a ground ball right back to him for what appeared to be a tailor-made 1-2-3 double play. But Andersen airmailed the throw over catcher Simon Reid, allowing a run to score without recording an out. Andersen allowed two more runs to score before the inning came to a close and the Warriors trailed 8-4 as the game entered the late innings.
 
The four run deficit was too much to overcome as Westmont dropped game one 9-5.
 
"Good teams take advantage of miscues," said Ruiz. "A couple of things got away from us in game one and it was a little frustrating. I think we were in it more than the score shows but we needed to take care of the baseball and if we do, that score probably looks a little different."
 
In game two the Warriors set the tone in the bottom half of the first when Rudinsky turned on a fastball that landed over the left field wall for a two run homer. Rudinsky kept pace with Netz, as both men collected their seventh bombs of the season on Friday.
 
Westmont starter Jameson Kruger scattered two runs through the first five innings and the teams remained tied at 2 heading into the bottom of the fifth.
 
After an eleven pitch walk by Robbie Haw and a single by John Jensen, Alex Stufft gave the Warriors the lead with a base hit through the 5-6 hole. Simon Reid kept the line moving with an RBI single to left center to put the club up 4-2 and Kruger worked a 1-2-3 sixth to pull the Warriors with one inning of a Friday split.
 
"Our team is in a position right now where we're counting on Jamie to be a leader," said Ruiz. "He's had some struggles this year but he's persevered and been a good teammate and today he came out and gave us a good outing against a team we hadn't been able to beat yet."
 
Kruger began the top of the seventh with 95 pitches under his belt. Ten pitches later, runners were at first and second with one out for Tony Monroy. The first two pitches to Monroy went to the backstop and it was a one run game with the tying run at third. After an intentional walk to Monroy and Kruger's pitch count at 109, Ruiz asked Carlos Moreno to get lefty Tyler Lasch.
 
Moreno utilized his devastating change up to retire Tyler Lasch on four pitches, and Ruiz handed the ball to Robbie Haw with runners at the corners, two outs, and one of the GSAC's best hitters at the plate in the form of Brendan Mckenzie.
 
Haw jammed Mckenzie with a 3-1 fastball and induced a routine fly out to left, and the Warriors survived to win game two 4-3.
 
"At that point in the game our plan was to stick with the right matchups," said Ruiz. "We liked Carlos's matchup against the lefty and we liked Robbie's matchup against the righty and at the end of the day regardless of outcome we're going to trust our plan. Fortunately we found a way to get it done.
 
"Tomorrow we have to take care of the baseball, eliminate free passes, and win games inning by inning. We have to out compete and if our process is good we'll be right where we need to be."
 
Westmont and Hope International play two more tomorrow to complete their season series with first pitch of game one scheduled for 11:00 AM. Live coverage will be available on the Westmont athletics website minutes before first pitch.