BOYS OF WINTER

By Brandon Petersen

The Westcliff baseball team would have been forgiven for some frozen bats Wednesday night at the Great Park, with temperatures hovering just about 50-degrees, but it didn't seem to matter much in a 11-8 nonconference win over Bethesda.

Micah Wallette and Kolby Wagatsuma provided the heavy lumber in the seventh when they hit a pair of doubles to break the game open at 9-4.

Patrick Morgan got the party started in the first when he singled to left scoring Ian Avalos.

Wallette then singled through the right side and plated both Morgan and Jack Varney.

Varney went yard in the bottom of the fifth to make it 4-0.

The sweet-swinging southpaw had yet another impressive day at the plate to continue his hot start. Wednesday, Varney went 3-for-4 with his second stroll of the year, a walk, three runs scored and two batted in.

Wallette was nearly as impressive, turning in a 2-for-4 night with the 2B, three runs knocked in and run scored.

Patrick Morgan was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Wagatsuma finished 2-for-4 with his 2B and two batted in.

Avalos had a nice game at the dish, and in the field, turning in a pair of diamond gems while picking up a pair of singles and two runs scored.

Joseph Guttmann also had a pair of knocks, finishing 2-for-5 with a run batted in.

Miguel Espana (2B), Alex Hall and Nick Malvini all contributed to the hit parade with one each.

The Warriors finished with 13 hits, but also had six errors, allowing Bethesda to hang around until the final frame.

The Dubs will have to clean up the leather moving forward, but again, a little leeway should be shown – it's hard to distinguish between Irvine and Iceland this week.

"Not being on the field all week due to weather and field conditions made it tough defensively but the guys stepped up and competed every pitch," Westcliff head coach Dylan Hoffman said. "A huge double play by Zane and Miguel really jump started a spark in the guys."

On the hill, the veteran Eddie Rios got the start and was nearly perfect, finishing two full, with a trio of strikeouts and just one hit surrendered.

Domingo Gaxiola (W) then took over and went three and a third, allowing four earned on just one hit – but three free passes came around to bite.

Brock Grillo finished off the sixth with two-thirds of one-hit ball and nothing surrendered.

Shunta Furuya took over the seventh and was clean but surrendered three in the eighth – one earned – when the leather froze over.

With the score at 9-7, Hoffman called on Camden Cooper to close it out. After a strikeout, the Dubs let another one through on their sixth error, making it 9-8.  

But Cooper turned right around and came up clutch with a huge strikeout to end the threat and get his team off the field.

Guttman and Varney both provided a little cushion in the home half with a pair of RBI singles.

"It was promising the way the guys punched back after giving up runs," Hoffman said. "Winning every inning is an import part of what we do here."

Cooper (four Ks) shut down Bethesda in the ninth to earn the save.

Up next, the Warriors (4-1) welcome a familiar foe, former Cal Pac rival Benedictine-Mesa – who knocked Westcliff out of the playoffs a year ago – to the Great Park for a three-game set that starts Friday.

First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.