Tim Leary earned a complete game victory and hit a game winning home run as Westmont Baseball (13-34, 9-26 GSAC) split with Azusa Pacific (20-29, 13-23) in the final day of the season for both teams. Azusa Pacific pounded out 18 hits in the first game to claim an 18-4 victory before Leary took the mound in game two and led the Warriors to a 2-1 win.
Hits were hard to come by for both teams in the second game. Through four innings Leary had given up just one hit and Azusa Pacific’s Garrett Hodges allowed only one walk. Both pitchers threw complete games.
Asked how the pitching dual affected him, Leary responded, “It made me want to battle more. It motivated me and gave me the fire to make sure I don’t give up runs and don’t give up hits. I felt like everything was working and that I was throwing everything for strikes.”
Leary threw a total of 86 pitches in the game, 62 for strikes (72.1%).
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Westmont right fielder Coby Cress led off with a single to right. Cress advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by first baseman Colten Christianson and then took third when left fielder Terrell Wong flied out to deep right field. Trevor Christianson was called upon to pinch hit with runners on the corners with two away. Cress scored when Christianson hit a ball between third and short which the Cougars’ third baseman could not handle.
However, the Cougars evened the score in the top of the sixth after catcher Anthony Delgado reached on a single to right. Carlos Maddox served as a courtesy runner for Delgado and stole second. When shortstop Sammy Soyring grounded out to third, Maddox took third. He scored on a RBI single by left fielder Trevor Lothrop.
With two down in the bottom half of the six inning, Leary stepped to the plate. After swinging at and missing the first pitch, Leary sent the next pitch over the scoreboard in center field.
“I was relaxed and not thinking too much about pitches,” said Leary. “I was just trying to swing the bat and hit the ball.”
The home run was the second of the day for Leary. In the first inning of the opener, Leary drove a ball over the left field fence that hit the roof of the fitness center for a two-run homerun.
As a result, Leary is now the single-season home run king for the Warriors with 16. Dominick Paluso was the previous record holder having collected round-trippers in 2004. Paluso, who attended today’s game and was cheering Leary on, remains the Warriors’ career home run slugger with 37.
