Despite leading for most of the game, Westmont Baseball (2-1) dropped its first game of the year on Wednesday afternoon at Russ Carr Field, falling 12-8 to No. 20 California Lutheran (3-0) in nine innings. Tim Leary, the Warriors’ designated hitter, went four for four at the plate with a solo home run, two-doubles, a single and a walk. The sophomore had two RBIs and scored three times.
“Leary did a good job,” said Westmont Head Coach Robert Ruiz. “He is staying aggressive in the right counts like we have asked him to do.”
The Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second after Leary led off with a double down the left field line. One out later, third baseman Mark Magdaleno was hit by a pitch to give the Warriors runners on first and second. That brought up the bottom third of the Warriors’ lineup with all three spots manned by freshman.
Catcher Eric Soliman loaded the bases with a single into right field. Right fielder Phil Prickett then singled into center to score Leary and move every one up 90 feet. Shortstop Evan Wadginski followed Prickitt’s lead, picking up two RBI’s with another single to center.
Pricket would go two for four on the day with two RBIs and a run scored.
“Phil came in and did a nice job as a true freshman,” said Ruiz about his right fielders’ first collegiate start. “I was proud of some of the adjustments we made offensively. I thought we came out early and attacked fastballs, putting pressure on the defense and on their starting pitcher. We got to their bullpen relatively early.”
However, California Lutheran answered back in the top of the third, scoring three runs with two away. A two-run homerun by Paul Hartmann and a double by Richard Michelin each drove in a runner who had reached base courtesy of a walk.
Leary’s solo homerun in the bottom half of the third put the Warriors on top once more. In the bottom of the fourth, Westmont increased their lead with two more runs. Soliman was walked to lead off the inning and Prickett was hit with a pitch. Wadginski laid down a sacrifice bunt, moving his fellow freshman to second and third. Senior center fielder Terrell Wong then stepped to the plate and drove in Soliman and Picket on a shot up the middle.
The top of the fifth saw California Lutheran play small ball and manufacture a run off of two walks, two stolen bases and a single. The Warriors gave up nine walks on the day and surrender eight stolen bases.
“A key that we need to fix is limiting our walks,” acknowledged Ruiz. “We gave up nine walks in nine innings. Giving away free bases are never going to help you. Cal Lu is a great running team and they took advantage of the free bases that we gave them.
“We need to be quicker to the plate,” said Ruiz about how to limit the number of stolen bases. “That is something we talked about post-game. We need to manage the running game better – vary our looks and utilize all of our picks. That will be a practice emphasis. It’s something we need to get better at and we are going to learn from it.”
In the bottom of the fifth, the Warriors picked up their seventh run. After Leary led off the inning with a single to center, Magdaleno delivered a one-out single to right center, moving Leary to second. One out later, Prickett drove Leary in with a check-swing single to center field.
In the top-half of the sixth inning, Westmont starter Jacob Regalado was taken out of the game and replaced by Junior Chris Plance. But California Lutheran tied the score at seven with three runs in the top of the sixth that were powered by back-to-back doubles by Jordan Ott and Hartmann.
Regalado gave up four runs on six hits in five innings of work, walking five and striking out three.
“We fought through the game and answered when they scored,” said Ruiz, “but we need to be more consistent in throwing strikes and a little more aggressive on defense.”
The Warriors recaptured the lead (8-7) on a double by Leary that drove in second baseman Jordan Bottenfield, but the Kingsmen scored in the top of the seventh inning with two singles and a sacrifice bunt.
The top of the eighth turned out to be the Warriors’ undoing. Senior Dan Price gave up a leadoff walk, but threw to first as runner Matt Martin was trying to steal. Westmont first baseman Colten Christianson relayed the ball to Wadginski who applied the tag and retired the Martin. Price then struck out pinch hitter Garrett Smith to produce the second out of the inning.
But Ott and Hartmann came up and each produced a soft infield single to give the Kingsmen runners at first and second base. After both runners advanced on a wild pitch, designated hitter K.C. Judge recorded two RBIs with a single to left. After a walk to Michelin, two more runs scored on a double to deep left field by pinch hitter Tyler Dadigian.
“Dan Price did a good job getting us ground balls but we need to go attack those balls and make some plays for him,” said Ruiz.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Warriors loaded the bases on walks to Leary and Magdaleno which were sandwiched around a single by Christianson. But Ian Durham, who pitched the last three innings for California Lutheran, secured the win by striking out all three of the Warriors’ end-of-the-order freshman. The trio, who combined to either score or drive in seven of the Warriors’ eight runs, were unable to find the magic one last time.
“I was happy with the fact that we played hard through nine innings,” said Ruiz. “The guys showed some character getting the last run to the plate in the ninth inning.”
Westmont is scheduled to play a three-game series against San Francisco State on Friday and Saturday, though whether conditions may alter the schedule somewhat. Any revisions to the schedule will be posted on the Westmont Athletics web site.
