Sixth-ranked Westmont Baseball (39-10, 23-9) entered the final day of the Golden State Athletic Conference regular season with a one-game lead over both the #9 Lions of Vanguard (43-10, 24-8) and the #15 Royals of Hope International. After dropping both games of a doubleheader to Vanguard on Saturday, and Hope International sweeping The Master’s, Westmont is now in third place in the GSAC standing.
However, Westmont has filed an Official Protest Report involving a play in the first game at Vanguard on which the first run of the game was scored.
With one away and the bases empty, Vanguard’s Tommy Rodriguez hit a fair ball down the right field line that angled toward the right field corner. The Lion’s bullpen is at the end of the right field fence, but between the right field fence and the outfield fence is a gap of about five feet. The ground rule, as explained before the start of the game, is that if a fair ball crosses the plane extending from the right field fence to the outfield fence, the ball is out of play and a dead ball.
Westmont’s Thomas Rudinsky was playing in right field and raised his hands when he observed the ball hit by Rodriguez cross the plane. When he did, both umpires also raised their hands, indicating a dead ball. Rodriguez continued running all the way to home plate.
The umpires conferred after the play and ruled that, in their judgment, the ball had not crossed the plane of the right field fence and awarded Rodriguez an inside-the-park home run.
Westmont head coach Robert Ruiz objected, contending that since both umpires had raised their hands to indicate a dead ball and timeout, the runner should not have been allowed to advance. When the umpires did not agree, Ruiz informed them that he was playing the remainder of the game under protest.
Vanguard would go on to produce seven more runs and win the protested game by a score of 8-0. If the protest is upheld, however, all plays after the point of protest would be nullified and the game would be replayed from the point of the protest with no score, one away in the bottom of the fourth and Rodriguez on base.
A three-person protest committee will review Westmont’s official protest, the umpires report, photos and video to determine whether or not to grant Westmont’s petition. If they do so, Westmont will return to Vanguard at a date and time to be determined to complete the game. If they do not uphold the protest, the results of the game will stand.
At stake is a share of the GSAC Regular Season Championship. If the previous results stand, Vanguard and Hope International will be co-champions. If, however, the game is replayed and Westmont wins, the Warriors will be co-champions with the Royals.
All of this also affects the upcoming GSAC Tournament. As it currently stands, Vanguard is the number one seeded in the six-team, double-elimination tournament with Hope seeded second and Westmont third. If the protest is denied, or if the protest is upheld and Vanguard wins the replayed game, the seeding will remain the same. If, however, the Warriors win the replayed game, Hope International will be the top-seeded team, Westmont will move up to the number two seed and Vanguard will become the number three seed.
Westmont had a chance to claim a co-championship in the second game on Saturday and came within one out of doing so. Down 2-0 in the top of the fifth of the seven inning game, Josh Rego came up to bat with the bases loaded and two outs. Rego delivered a bases-clearing double to center field, putting the Warriors on top 3-2.
The Lions responded in the bottom half of the fifth with a single run, tying the score at three, and threatened to score again in the bottom of the sixth. With bases loaded and two outs, Westmont’s Carlos Moreno induced Matthew Land to pop up a ball in foul territory down the left field line. Brady Renck, playing at shortstop for the Warriors, made a sliding catch on the ball to retire Land and end the Lions’ threat.
In the top of the seventh, Rego came up to bat with two outs and blasted a shot over the left-center field fence, giving the Warriors a 4-3 advantage in the final inning. However, the Lions answered back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to claim the win.
Regardless of the decision of the GSAC Protest Committee regarding game one, the GSAC Tournament will be held May 2-5 at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine. Three games are scheduled to be played on each of the first three games with one or two games played on Thursday. Tickets for the event will be available on the GSAC website at http://gsacsports.org.
Ron Smith is the sports information director at Westmont College.
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