The Westmont baseball team needed a four-game sweep over visiting Menlo over two days to secure a berth in the Pac West Tournament and despite the tall task the Warriors were up for the challenge.
Lights out pitching and timely offense was enough for Westmont (29-19 overall, 25-17 Pac West) to complete the sweep with 2-0 and 5-2 victories on Saturday afternoon and punch its ticket to the postseason.
“We have a great group of young men that it’s kind of in their DNA to compete. It certainly wasn’t easy going into the weekend knowing we had to win four,” said Westmont coach Paul Sgvadis. “It’s really hard to sweep and to do it in the fashion that they did where all six or seven guys we used on the mound pitched their tail off today and we played some really solid defense.”
Westmont’s pitching set the tone early in the opener. Josh Hickey and Manny Soto combined on a four-hit shutout, with Soto earning the win to improve to 3-0. Hickey allowed just one hit over three innings, while Soto struck out six across the final six frames.
The Warriors broke through in the second inning when Zach Mora doubled to right-center and later scored on an RBI single by Jesse Di Maggio. Westmont added an insurance run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Griffin Brown, making it 2-0 — a margin that held to the end.
In the second game, the Warriors responded quickly after Menlo took a 1-0 lead on a leadoff home run by Shane Aldridge. A two-out rally in the bottom of the second put Westmont ahead. Di Maggio singled, and walks to Brown and Jayden Mingus loaded the bases. Noah Williams then drove in the tying run with an infield single, and aggressive baserunning allowed Brown to score for a 2-1 lead.
Menlo briefly tied the game in the third on a solo home run by Jack van Gorkum, but Brown answered in the fourth with a 378-foot home run to left field, restoring the Warriors’ advantage. Westmont added crucial insurance in the fifth when Joey Rico launched a two-run shot to right-center.
“It was two older guys that homered, a senior on senior day in Griffin Brown my catcher hit a home run that put us up 3-2 and of course captain Joey Rico, who is a junior, hit that two-run home run that really helped out a lot,” said Sgvadis of his team’s leadership.
On the mound, freshman Matt Vasquez earned the win with five innings of two-run ball, improving to 4-4. KJ Rieden closed out the game with two scoreless innings, recording his second save of the season and inducing two double plays to extinguish Menlo threats.
With the sweep, Westmont secured the No. 4 seed in the upcoming PacWest Baseball Championship. The Warriors will open tournament play against top-seeded Point Loma Nazarene, which enters with a record of 41-10 overall and 37-7 in conference, on Wednesday at Russ Carr Field. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m.
You must be logged in to post a comment.