Junior Jacob Regalado gave the Warriors eight solid innings on the mound as Westmont Baseball defeated the Eagles of Biola by a 5-2 score at Russ Carr Field on Thursday afternoon. The Warriors are now 1-1 with the Eagles headed into Saturday’s doubleheader in La Mirada.
“Our guys did a good job of continuing to fight through the ball game,” said Westmont Head Coach Robert Ruiz. “We had some lulls, but there was more of an aggressive approach and more energy. The guys played as a team and came up with some big hits in some key situations.”
Regalado, a junior transfer from Ventura College, gave up two runs on six hits. He walked four and struck out two.
“I’ve got to give all the credit to Evan Soliman, our catcher. He called a great game,” said Regalado. “It was a little shaky start in the first inning; I couldn’t get anything over for a strike. I didn’t have any tempo. The signs were coming in from our coach to our catcher. After the first inning, I asked the coach if we could let Soliman take it. Coach allowed it and we were on the same page. I shook him off maybe once or twice. We went out there, let them put the ball in play and let our defense work.”
Regalado, who gave up back-to-back walks to start the game, was helped when Biola center fielder Vinnie Fayard hit the ball sharply to third baseman Mark Magdaleno, Magdaleno fielded the ball on a hop which froze the runners who seemed uncertain whether the ball had been caught on a line drive. Magdaleno stepped on third to retire the lead runner and then threw to second to complete the double play.
However, Fayard advanced to second on another walk and then scored on a single to right field by first baseman Mac Sullivan. That would prove to be the worst of it for the Warriors’ starter.
“He wanted the ball in his hand today,” said Ruiz of his starter. “The entire coaching staff had confidence that he was going to go out and compete. I am real proud, but not surprised, that he bounced back from the first inning and carried us through eight complete. He handled adversity when he had it and kept Biola off balance.”
Westmont took the lead in the bottom of the second inning after first baseman Colten Christianson led off with a walk. Right fielder Coby Cress advanced Christianson to second base with a single through the left side to bring up Magdaleno. Called upon to put down a sacrifice but, Magdaleno pushed the ball down the third base line where it was fielded by Biola pitcher Mike Frisina. But Frisina threw the ball over Sullivan’s head at first allowing Christianson to score, Cress to move to third and Magdaleno to take second. Soliman then delivered a sacrifice fly to left field to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.
“We were able to keep momentum in our dugout,” said Assistant Coach Tony Cougoule. “We’ve had a rough go of scoring runs and then giving them up. This time, when they scored, we answered, and then we answered again. Today, Jake was able to get shutdown innings after we scored runs.”
In fact, neither team would score again until the sixth inning. Left fielder Trevor Blood doubled to left center to start off the top of the six.
“A leadoff double put me in a hole right away,” said Regalado. “About 70 percent of leadoff doubles score. My focus was to not let that guy score, but he ended up scoring. Once he scored I just had to focus and not let them take the lead.”
After Blood was replaced at second base with pinch runner Michael Andrews, Sullivan hit a ball on the ground just past the reach of the Christianson as he ran toward the mound. But second baseman Chris Ramirez was able to grab the ball and throw to Regalado at first to retire Sullivan. Andrews advanced to third on the play.
“Yesterday we had that exact same play to second base and it didn’t happen the same way,” said Ruiz. “Jake did his job getting up the line, staying under control and being there on time. In large part that is all up to him and he did what he needed to do to make that play.”
Designated hitter Rucky McKinley singled to left to drive in Andrews and tie the game at two. With a man on first and no outs, Biola catcher Daniel Bodemer hit the ball sharply back to the pitcher. Regalado fielded the grounder and turned to throw to second to start a double play. But the ball sailed into centerfield and McKinley broke for third. Westmont centerfielder Terrell “TK” Wong retrieved the ball and fired to Magdaleno at third who applied the tag.
“We had a slight meltdown in what should have been a double play,” said Ruiz. “TK, being an upper class outfielder, did a great job getting that out and putting us back to just having a runner on first base.
“Both of those outs were the result of guys taking care of their responsibilities and those are really secondary responsibilities. Regs’ first thought is getting the hitter out and getting up the line is an after thought – but you have to do both. TK is trying to read the ball off the bat but you also have to backup plays – and he did.”
The Warriors wasted no time in regaining the lead in the bottom half of the sixth inning. Tim Leary stepped to the plate and hit the first pitch he saw over the left field fence to give the Warriors a 3-2 lead.
“That was huge,” said Regalado of Leary’s homerun. “We were hoping for the big hit from Tim all day and it came at a great time.”
Christianson followed Leary and singled through the right side. Biola coach John Verhoeven, a Westmont alumnus, decided to bring in a Bobby O’Neill to relieve Frisina. Frisina, who would eventually be charged with the loss, pitched five plus inning, giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits. He struck out two and did not allow a walk.
O’Neill’s first pitch was to Cress who sent a monster shot to the left-centerfield gap for a triple that drove in Christianson. Cress would later score on a ground ball single to first base that took a bad hop and bounced off of Sullivan’s right shoulder.
Regalado pitched two more innings before handing over the duties on the mound to closer Pete McCarthy in the top of the ninth. McCarthy, who allowed two hits but no runs, picked up his third save of the season.
Biola and Westmont will conclude the series on Saturday with a doubleheader in La Mirada beginning at 11:00 a.m.
