SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Vanguard baseball dropped a pair of PacWest games to Westmont on Friday by scores of 10-4 and 9-3.
The Lions are now 27-21 overall and 23-19 in the PacWest. The Warriors improve to 36-10 and 31-8 in conference play.
Westmont 10, Vanguard 4
Trey Dunn and Zach Mora gave the Warriors an early lift. Dunn hit a solo homer in the second and Mora added a three-run shot in the fourth as Westmont took a 4-0 lead.
Jesse Di Maggio notched a two-run double in the fifth to increase the lead to 6-0.
The Lions got on the board in the sixth as Josh Schleichardt roped his team-leading 10th dinger of the season off Westmont starter Ryan Humphreys.
But the Warriors added two runs in the bottom half of the sixth on David Patterson's ground rule double and another on a wild pitch.
Vanguard struck for three runs in the eighth, getting a Tristan Gallegos RBI double, Abe Hernandez RBI single and Tyler Shigenaka sacrifice fly.
The Warriors made the soore 10-4 as Di Maggio posted a four RBI afternoon with a single that scored a pair of runs.
Jake Hiner took the loss for the Lions after allowing six runs over 5.0 innings. Pablo Small, Jacob Cuculich and Zach Saufl made appearances out of the VU bullpen.
Humphreys earned the win as he improved to 9-1.
Westmont 9, Vanguard 3
Vanguard jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on a Schleichardt RBI single and Angel Perez sacrifice fly, but Westmont brought both runs back in the bottom half off VU starter Jacob Morales on back-to-back homers from Grant Yzermans and Bryce McFeely.
Christopher Ceballos took over pitching duties for the Lions following the first inning, allowing four runs over a three-inning stint. The Warriors took a 4-2 lead in the third on RBI singles by Daniel Patterson and Dunn.
Vanguard scored a single run in the fourth on a balk by Westmont pitcher Bryan Peck to cut the deficit to 4-3, but Westmont hit its fifth home run of the afternoon in the bottom half. Michael Soper's two-run blast made it 6-3.
The Warriors added three runs in the fifth against VU's Maxwell Montplaisir on singles from Di Maggio and Shane Hofstadler, as well as a wild pitch.
Peck earned the win to move to 6-1. Caden Beloian pitched three scoreless and hitless innings. VU got a pair of runners aboard in the sixth via a pair of walks but could not bring either in.
Ceballos received the loss to fall to 1-3.
What's Next?: Vanguard hosts Westmont for Senior Day on Saturday, honoring 14 players in the program following the doubleheader. First pitch for game one is scheduled for noon.
