By Ron Smith
May 29, 2023
 
(LEWISTON, Idaho) With a 15-9 win over seventh-seeded Taylor of Indiana (42-16), third-seeded Westmont Baseball (45-8) has advanced in the winner's bracket of the 66th Avista NAIA World Series. By the end of Monday, Westmont will be one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the ten-team tournament.
 
The win also tied the program record set just last year for 45 victories in a single season.
 
Westmont took the lead early when the Warriors scored seven runs in the top of the third. The inning started with back-to-back walks issued to Liam Critchett and Shane Hofstadler. Then, Michael Soper laid down a bunt single to fill the sacks with Warriors.
 
Robbie Haw reached on a fielder's choice that allowed Critchett to score the first run of the game and keep the bases loaded with no outs. Brady Renck took advantage of the situation and delivered a two-RBI single to right that brought home Daniel Patterson (running for Hofstadler) and Soper.
 
The bases were reloaded when Ryan DeSaegher was hit by a pitch. That allowed Haw to score when Bryce McFeely worked a walk, making the score 4-0.
 
Parker O'Neil drove a sacrifice fly to deep right field that not only brought Renck home, but also advanced DeSaegher to third and McFeely to second.
 
Both runners scored when the ninth batter of the inning - Finn Snyder - doubled down the left field line, resulting in a 7-0 Warrior lead.
 
Westmont tacked on another run in the top of the fourth. Soper led off the inning with a double down the left field line, then reached third on a fly out by Renck. DeSaegher's single to left drove in Soper.
 
The lead, however, would not last. Taylor came back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth and six more in the fifth to claim a 9-8 advantage. In the fourth, an RBI double by Ben Kalbaugh drove in Mason David. Then Sam Gladd delivered a two-run home run to right field.
 
The six runs in the fifth inning were the result of a pair of three-run blasts – one by TJ Bass to left and another by Gladd to right.
 
The Trojan lead proved to be short lived, however. In the top of the sixth, Robbie Haw reached on a walk with one away. One out later, DeSaegher drove the ball to the top of the left field bleachers, putting Westmont up 10-9.
 
"I was fortunate to get under that one and take it out to left," said DeSaegher. "It was an all-around great team win. I was having a lot of fun out there.
 
"We knew it was going to be a dog-fight coming in. They have a great line-up all the way through the line-up. We were doing one thing at a time on defense. You go up big and you think you are going to coast – but nothing is easy in Lewiston. We had a great time with it and it was a great team win."
 
"I was really proud of how we came out and put up a big spot (in the third inning)," said Westmont's head coach Tyler LaTorre. "Taylor is here for a reason and they are one of the top six teams in the country right now. We knew they weren't going to lay down. When they take the lead after you have been up 8-0, you need a shot of energy – and that was Ryan DeSaegher. He had to overcome adversity with a bit of injury, but he got that shot that we needed."
 
Westmont added two more runs in the top of the eighth. Renck led off with a walk, then reached second on a single to left by DeSaegher. A single by McFeely to left-center drove in Renck and advanced DeSaegher to third. O'Neil added a single to center to plate DeSaegher and make the score 12-9.
 
In the top of the ninth, the Warriors added three more runs to account for the final score. Soper and Haw walked back-to-back to start the inning. That brought up Renck whose double through the right side brought home both runners. After Renck stole third, DeSaegher recorded his fourth RBI with a sacrifice fly to center field, completing the scoring.
 
Chase Goddard started the game for the Warriors on the mound and pitched three scoreless innings before running into trouble in the fourth and fifth innings.
 
"I thought Goddard looked good for the first three innings, then we had a long inning," assessed LaTorre. "He sat around for half an hour to 45 minutes and wasn't the same when he got back out there."
 
Goddard was charged with eight runs on 10 hits. He struck out five and walked one.
 
Aiden Holly relieved Goddard in the fifth and gave up the second three-run blast that temporarily put the Trojans in the lead. After doing so, however, he retired the next seven batters he faced. Holly was awarded the win, improving his record to 5-1.
 
"Holly gave us two huge zeros," noted LaTorre, "then Lucien Wechsberg walked a tightrope in the eighth inning. He threw the ball well but gave up some unlucky hits up the middle.
 
"I didn't waiver. I trusted our defense and I trust Lucien. I trust everyone on our team. It is fun to watch a group of players continue to push, continue to go and not let anything in the past determine what is going to happen in the future."
 
"We have full trust in all of our pitchers to get the job done and we know our offense is always going to punch back," said DeSaegher. "If they can get us in the dugout, we are going to be just fine."
 
"With one away in the eighth, Wechsberg gave up a single to left before giving up a single on a ground ball up the middle and another on a weekly hit ground ball to short. With the bases loaded, however, Wechsberg finally got the productive ground ball he was looking for, resulting in a double play to end the inning.
 
With a six-run lead in his pocket, Wechsberg retired the Trojans in order to complete the victory.
 
"There are a lot of us seniors who have been playing together for four years," said DeSaegher after the game. "To make a run here is big. This is it for most of us and we are just trying to have fun."
 
With the win, Westmont remains one of just two unbeaten teams in the ten-team tournament. Four teams have already been eliminated (#2 Georgia Gwinnett, #5 Bellevue (Neb.), #6 Cumberlands (Ky.) and #10 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.). Four teams have one loss (#1 Southeastern (Fla.), Taylor, #8 Indiana Wesleyan and #9 Lewis-Clark State.
 
Tuesday, Westmont will take on the only other undefeated team, William Carey (Miss.) (50-8) who triumphed over top-seeded Southeastern 13-4 in today's other winner's bracket game. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
 
"We are happy to be here and we are not done yet," asserted DeSaegher. "We are going to keep punching and take it one game at a time. There is a lot of good baseball out here so you can't take anything easy."
 
"We have Eric Oseguera on the mound tomorrow," reported LeTorre. "He is our most experienced pitcher. That is what I told him when making the decision to go to Goddard today. If we won, he was going to pitch the game to get us into the final four teams. If we lost, he was going to have to pitch us out of an elimination game that would have been our first of the postseason. So, we have our most experienced pitcher on the mound.
 
"We just have to play our game. It isn't about who we are playing, it is about how we play and the attention to detail and being aggressive to letting our skills and God-given abilities flourish. We don't have to feel like we have to do more or do less, but just be us."