Westmont is one win away from capturing PacWest Baseball Tournament title
Mike Klan
FRESNO, Calif. – Westmont Baseball (40-12) is one win away from claiming the PacWest Tournament Championship after posting a 15-4 win over the second-seeded Sea Lions of Point Loma (37-15). The Warriors belted out six home runs to tie a single-season program record.
Bryan Peck earned the win for the Warriors, improving to 6-1 on the year. The senior right-hander allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits in five and two-third innings. He struck out five and walked just one.
“I shared with the guys, when you have quality starting pitching, that gives the office an opportunity to get their engines going,” said Westmont’s head coach Paul Svagdis. “Bryan did a tremendous job today. It was a great reflection of what a senior leader and a four-year starter looks like in this program.”
Before Peck took the mound, the Warrior hitters handed him a 4-0 lead.
Westmont started the game with five straight hits. Grant Yzermans, who produced four hits in the game, started things off with a double to right.
Asked about his role as a lead-off hitter, Yzermans said, “It tells me Coach Svagdis has a lot of trust in me to be a spark plug for the team and get it going and get us some momentum. It worked out.”
Michael Soper was walked after Yzermans at bat, bringing up Bryce McFeely. The senior first baseman delivered a three-run home run over the fence in left center field to spot the Warriors to a 3-0 lead. Daniel Patterson followed McFeely with a solo home run to center. Increasing the Warrior lead by one.
Regarding taking the mound with a 4-0 run, Peck said, “It changes your whole approach to the game. We are always competing, but it means I get to fill it (the strike zone) up more – more strikes. There is more pressure on them. They are supposed to get out. When you have a lead like that there is no fear to pitch around guys, you just go right at them. You get to attack.”
The score remained 4-0 through the end of the third inning when Svagdis called his team together in the dugout.
“We had a hitting plan going in like we always do,” explained Svagdis. “I felt like sometimes you can take your foot off the gas for a little bit. One of the things that is cool for me as a coach is that I can get into these guys. They are old, they are mature and hopefully we have built a level of trust. They certainly responded.”
Westmont sent the entire batting order to the plate in the top of the fourth, tallying six hits and six runs to take a 10-0 lead. With one away, Yzermans singled to center field to start the engine humming. Soper then singled to left, putting Warriors on first and second. Once again, McFeely stepped to the plate with two men on and, once again, he blasted a three-run home run to left-center field – this one on the first pitch of the at bat.
The Warriors were firing on all cylinders.
“We had a hitting plan and I just stuck to the plan. I just basically did what I was supposed to do and it ended up working out for us. That’s kind of all thanks to Coach Svagdis because without his plan, I don’t know if I hit those homers,” said a modest McFeely.
Patterson followed McFeely with a double to left, bringing Trey Dunn to the plate. Dunn joined the hit parade with the Warriors’ fourth home run of the day – a two-run shot to left. That drove the Point Loma starter from the game, but Westmont was not done scoring in the fourth. Jesse Di Maggio powered a line drive over the left field fence that was never more than 10-15 feet off the ground.
Point Loma scored its first run (unearned) in the bottom of the fourth. An RBI-single by Jake Schwartz drove in Jake Entrekin from third, making it a 10-1 game.
Westmont added three more runs in the top of the fifth. Zach Mora produced a lead-off single down the left-field line. Then, Yzermans notched his second double of the game, advancing More to third. Soper drove in the first two runs with an opposite-field double to left, allowing Mora and Yzermans to score.
An infield single by McFeely continued the inning and moved Soper to third base before Patterson drove a sacrifice fly to left field, plating Soper and making the score 13-1.
Westmont’s 14th run came in the top of the six, courtesy of a towering solo home run to right field by Shane Hofstadler – record tying sixth home run of the game.
Point Loma tallied two runs in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 14-3 before Westmont added one more in the top of the seventh. With one away, McFeely singled to left field. One out later, Dunn was walked. Jack Bollengier then singled to left field, driving in McFeely.
The Sea Lions scored their final run in the bottom of the ninth to make the score 15-4.
Caden Beloian earned a save, his fifth of the year, by pitching the final three and one-third innings, he allowed one run on four hits, struck out two and walked one.
Westmont hitters produced 20 hits, including 11 for extra bases. The 43 total bases ranks as second most in program history.
The win meant that Westmont did not have to play a second game today, to which Svagdis quipped, “That means a lot for my feet, right now. I told the guys to get on the bus, this guy needs to ice his 55-year-old feet.
“Playing doubleheaders, and particularly nine-inning doubleheaders is a lot. We get to go back, get a little dinner and rest. Using two pitchers, with low pitch counts and high innings pitched is really advantageous for the team.”
Game five followed Westmont’s game and featured Hawai’i Pacific and Point Loma in a rematch of yesterday’s second game. Point Loma won the first match-up by a score of 14-5. The Sharks advanced to the night game by defeating Biola 11-5 in an elimination game earlier today. In their second elimination game of the day, Hawai’i Pacific defeated Point Loma 7-6 with a bases loaded, infield single.
As a result, the Warriors will take on the Sharks in game six on Friday at noon. If Westmont wins, the Warriors will claim the tournament championship. If Hawai’i Pacific wins, the two teams will play again in a winner-take-all scenario 30 minutes after the completion of the earlier game.
Reflecting on what winning the tournament would mean, Peck said, “Winning the PacWest Tournament is the first step of a three-piece process to get where we need to go.”
The second and third steps would be winning the West Regional and then the West Super Regional. Victory at those events, would drive the Warriors all the way to Cary, North Carolina – the home of the NCAA Division II World Series.
(Article courtesy of Westmont Athletics)