Westmont Baseball collected two more wins as the Warriors swept today’s doubleheader at William Jessup by scores of 7-5 and 12-7. With the wins, Westmont improves to 20-2 overall and 9-1 in Golden State Athletic Conference play.
In the opening game, Westmont scored first when Robbie Haw drove a sacrifice fly into center field that scored Paul Mezurashi from third. Mezurashi had led off the inning with a triple to right center field. However, Jessup responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning on a two-RBI single by Jorge Perez and a RBI single by Kawaiola Takemura.
Westmont pulled within one run in the top of the fifth on three singles by Haw, Simon Reid and Thomas Rudinsky. Once again, Jessup responded in the bottom half of the same inning, scoring on a solo home run by Dylan Cole to take a 4-2 lead.
The Warriors tied the game at four-all in the top of the seventh. After Rudinsky walked to lead off the inning, he advanced to second on a wild pitch. He then scored when Josh Rego reached on an error. Daniel Patterson pinch ran for Rego and reached third on a passed ball. Parker O’Neil came up next and produced a sacrifice fly to center field to score Patterson.
In the top of the eighth inning, Westmont added three more runs that proved to be the difference. With one away, Haw was hit by a pitch. He then took third on Brady Renck’s single down the right field line. When Reid singled through the left side, Haw scored and Renck took third.
Bryce McFeely took over as the courtesy runner for Reid, then advanced to second when Rudinsky was walked to load the bases. Rego drove in Renck from third with a single through the right side, leaving the bases full of Warriors. O’Neil then drove in the third run with his second sacrifice fly in as many innings.
Jessup got one run in the bottom of the ninth to account for the final score when Dustin McElwain doubled down the right field line with a man on second, but it was not enough to prevent Westmont from claiming the win.
Gabe Arteaga (1-1) was awarded the win for the Warriors after pitching three innings in relief. He allowed one run on one hit, struck out three and did not surrender a walk.
Bryan Peck started on the mound for the Warriors and worked six innings. He allowed four runs on five hits, struck out nine and walked one.
In game number two, Westmont put up three runs in the top of the first to take the early lead. Two runs came via an RBI single by Rego and one on a RBI double by O’Neil.
An RBI single by McElwain in the bottom of the second made it a 3-1 game before Westmont added another run in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Haw. Jessup scored in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 4-2.
What followed next was a very long sixth inning in which each team scored five runs. Westmont’s first run was the result of a bunt single by Haw that scored Luke Tillitt and brought Finn Snyder home. Later in the inning, Rego singled up the middle with the bases loaded to score Tillitt and Haw.
O’Neil, then, singled to center field, driving in McFeely and advancing Rego to third. An RBI single by Ryan Desaegher allowed Rego to score.
Jessup’s five runs in the bottom half of the inning came on a two-RBI home run by Cole and a three-RBI home run by Kevin Gutierrez. That made the score 9-7 after six innings of play in the seven-inning game.
In the top of the seventh, the Warriors added three insurance runs. Reid’s bat provided the first run when he drove in Tillitt with a single to right. Rudinsky then homered to left field to drive in Reid and put the final tallies on the scoreboard.
Starter Eric Oseguera started the game and earned the win. In five innings of work, he allowed two runs on three hits, struck out three and walked one. Oseguera is now 5-0 on the season.
The two teams will go back at it again tomorrow in a doubleheader starting at 11:00 a.m.
Ron Smith is the sports information director at Westmont College.
email: sports@newspress.com
