By Ron Smith
May 18, 2023
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Baseball (43-8), the sixth ranked team in the NAIA, is headed back to the Avista NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho. The Warriors earned a berth in the 10-team, double-elimination tournament by defeating #13 Benedictine Mesa of Arizona (44-14) by a score of 10-1 in the final game of the Santa Barbara Opening Round Tournament.
 
Chase Goddard took the mound for the Warriors to start the game and turned in a masterful performance.
 
"It has been two straight outings of all execution – execution of off-speed pitches and his fastball command – and his continued belief in his defense behind him," said Westmont's head coach Tyler LaTorre, referencing Goddard's last win in the GSAC Championship game. "He put the team on his back."
 
Before Goddard even took the mound, the Warriors, playing as the visiting team, put up two runs in the top of the first inning. Bryce McFeely drove in the first run with a single up the middle to plate Robbie Haw. Later in the inning, Liam Critchett worked a bases loaded walk to bring home Ryan DeSaegher.
 
McFeely ended up with five hits in the game on six at bats. He also scored twice and drove in two RBIs.
 
"Getting two runs in the first inning was like a breath of fresh air for Goddard," noted LaTorre. "He was able to just go out there and compete and not feel like he had to be perfect."
 
"Our starting pitching has been tremendous all year," observed senior second baseman Brady Renck. "Our bullpen is really good, but we don't get to see them sometimes because our starters are so good. It is a huge advantage when we have guys like Lucien Wechsburg coming out in the eighth inning pumping gas.
 
"The relievers only had to throw one time each this week. That's a testament to Bryan Peck, Osy (Eric Oseguera) and Goddard. For each one of them, that may have been their best starts of the year in the biggest games of the year. If they keep it within two, three or four runs, we know we are going to score that. Our pitchers have the confidence that they can go out there and do their jobs."
 
The Warriors scored twice more in the third inning to take a 4-0 lead. A single to left by Shane Hofstadler drove in McFeely from third. Then, with the bases loaded. Michael Soper's ground ball to the right side of the infield allowed Finn Snyder to score.
 
In the top of the fourth, Parker O'Neil extended the Warrior lead to 5-0 when his sacrifice fly to deep right field allowed Renck to score from third.
 
Meanwhile, Goddard was dealing, taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning.
 
"I was just having fun out there," expressed Goddard. "I wanted to win and give my team the best chance."
 
Goddard gave up his first hit to Jack Fitzgerald who led off the fifth for the Redhawks. However, that only served to set up a strike-'em-out-throw-'em double play with Goddard supplying the strikeout and Hofstadler delivering a bullet to second to retire the would-be base stealer.
 
Westmont added a single run in the top of the sixth when Snyder was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. That made Westmont's lead 6-0.
 
In the bottom half of the sixth, Goddard found himself in a bit of trouble for the first and only time. Benedictine loaded the bases with one away. Goddard persuaded Dylan Bangs to pop out to Renck for the second out. Then, McFeely ran down a soft line drive to right-center off the bat of Tyler Butterfield to end the inning.
 
"I was really fired up," said Goddard about coming off the mound after the sixth. "I was glad McFeely had a bead on that ball."
 
In his six scoreless innings of work, Goddard allowed just three hits. He struck out five and walked two.
 
"There is an old saying that you are only as good as your next day's pitcher," said LaTorre. "The three performances we got out of our three starters were incredible. We scored first in every game. Scoring in each of the first innings that we played combined with the quality starts means that you can save bullpen arms in a tournament. You can continue to apply pressure without there being pressure on you. It frees up the bats. It frees up being able to run the bases with more freedom. You don't need to be perfect with every single pitch."
 
The Warriors extended their lead to 8-0 in the top of the seventh on RBI-singles by McFeely and O'Neil.
 
Zach Yates took over duties on the mound in the seventh inning and faced just three batters. With one away, Josh Hernandez singled through the right side for the Redhawks. That brought up Anthony Sortino who blistered a ball back up the middle. However, Yates snagged the line drive for an out, then tossed the ball to first for the inning ending double play.
 
Once more, the Warriors increased their lead by two in the eighth inning. Soper's double down the left field line drove in Daniel Patterson from first. Later, with runners on first and third, Renck singled through the right side, to bring home Soper.
 
The hit completed a nine-for-13 performance for Renck during the tournament. He also walked three times, scored three times and drove in six.
 
Lucian Wechsberg pitched the ninth for the Warriors, retiring the side in order, including two strikeouts, both looking.
 
Sean Youngerman finished out the game for the Warriors in the ninth. The freshman gave up a solo home run to Orlando Lorduy, then retired the next three batters to end the game.
 
"Last year was such a Cinderella year, making it to the World Series for the first time," reflected Renck when asked to compare last year to this season. "This year, we knew we were capable and a good enough team. We were the one seed for a reason. It was just sticking to our brand of baseball and making sure we don't get too high and don't get too low. That is where we have been all season.
 
"When we play our game, we are a hard team to beat. Part of that is our offensive approach which is being resilient at the plate. Then, we know we have a lot of good starting pitchers on the mound. It was the culmination of that this week."
 
"This has been our goal from the very beginning," said senior shortstop Robbie Haw about returning to the World Series. "I think about what we went through in the beginning of the year. In the (coaching) transition, we didn't lose anyone. No one gave up and quit when it was hard. We dealt with adversity the whole year.
 
"Our confidence as a team feels so high. I think winning the GSAC Tournament - which is something I have never done before and no one on the team has done - and beating a really good Hope (International) team a couple of times built our confidence up. Even when we were down that first game (of the Opening Round Tournament), we knew we could pull it off. There were no doubts."
 
Looking forward to the trip to the World Series, Haw said, "We have unfinished business in Lewiston. This team is special and I think we can build off last year. The experience we had was a good learning one for a lot of us. We have so many guys returning that it is not going to be overwhelming. It is going to be another business trip."
 
"I was on the roster last year, but didn't get to play," said Goddard, who sat out most of last season with an injury. "I have had so much fun with this team this year. This team is special and I want to keep it going as long as possible."
 
"The special thing about this team is that every week we got better and better and gelled further and further," explained LaTorre. "You could see the belief coming into play and they started to believe that this is something that we could do. You could see it in the details at practice.
 
"When things weren't going so well the first few games of the season, we talked about wanting to have a Lewiston practice or a Lewiston game. The season continued to build and the more it built, the more belief came – belief in each other and in what had come before in this program. To see what we did this week was truly special."
 
Next week, the Warriors will board a plane and head north for a Lewiston finale to the 2023 season.