Westmont Baseball claimed both ends of a doubleheader on Tuesday, defeating Occidental (14-9) by scores of 9-2 in the first game and 11-7 in the second. Twenty-six games into the regular season – and with 22 to go – Westmont finds itself with an overall record of 13-12-1 and a conference mark of 6-6. The Warriors are on a five-game winning streak.
Junior JP Cohn started for the Warriors in the first game and picked up his first win of the season. The right-hander pitched seven innings allowing two runs on four hits. He struck out eight and walked two. Ryan Sullivan and Michael Kwan pitched the eighth and ninth respectively with neither hurler allowing a hit or run.
Occidental jump in front on a two-run home run by Riley Smith. Westmont drew closer when Tim Leary delivered his tenth home run of the season while leading off the bottom of the fourth. Leary now has 35 career home runs and is within two of current home run king Dominick Poluso (2003-06).
The big inning came in the bottom of the seventh when the Warriors pushed eight runs across the plate. After a leadoff walk to Hunter Christenson, Brent Fukushima and Brandon Gildea delivered back-to-back singles to load the bases with nobody out. A single by David Pennington drove in one run and kept the bases loaded. Turbin delivered the fourth single in a row to drive in two more.
Leary then walked to reload the bases. A infield single by Coby Cress brought Pennington home and kept the bases loaded. One out later, Mitch Petrak tripled to drive in three more runs. Petrak would later score on a Tiger error.
Turbin was three for five in the game with a run scored and two RBIs. Pennington went two for five with a run and an RBI.
In the second game, Westmont scored one in the second and five in the third to post a 6-0 lead. An RBI single by Cress brought in William Barring in the first inning, who served as a courtesy runner for Gildea. In the second, Thomas Hocutt started things off with a one-out single. Motush then reached on an error and advanced to second while Hocutt scored. An RBI single by Gilden brought home Motush.
Barring, who again relieved Gildea on the base pads, reached second on a single by Pennington before a single by Turbin loaded the bases. Leary brought in both Barring and Pennington on another single and moved Turbin to third. Turbin scored on a sacrifice fly by Cress.
Occidental scored three times in the fourth and twice in the fifth to make it a 6-5 ball game. However, the Warriors responded with three of their own in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 9-5 lead.
With one away in the bottom of the sixth, Gildea single and Barring went to first as a courtesy runner. Pennington then singled move Barring up 90 feet. A single to Turbin brought in Barring with Pennington and Turbin taking an extra base on the throw. Then Leary doubled in both Pennington and Turbin. Leary now has a career record 130 RBIs.
Westmont added two more after Phil Prickett singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning. A single by Torin Shaikh moved Prickett over to third, giving Westmont runners on the corners with no outs. Prickett scored on a sacrifice fly by Motush. After Shaikh stole second, Gildea doubled to drive him in.
The game got a bit too interesting in the top of the ninth as the Tigers scored two runs on a home run by Jonathan Brooks. Occidental then loaded the bases with two outs to bring the tying run to the plate in the person of Scott Hong. Mitch Crocker was brought in to face Hong and enticed him into flying out to left field to end the game.
Reliever Jonathan Breneman was awarded the win on the basis of effectiveness. Breneman pitched two innings allowing just one hit without giving up a hit or walk. Breneman struck out two. Eric Bateman, who started the game for the Warriors, gave up four runs, one of which was earned, on five hits.
The Warriors now travel to El Cajon for games with San Diego Christian on Thursday and Friday. Both games begin at three o’clock.
