COSTA MESA – The Vanguard baseball team ended the 2025 season on fantastic terms with a 4-3 win against No. 4 Westmont, sparking celebration for the 14-member Senior Day class on Saturday at Dean Harvey Field.

The Warriors won the first game of the doubleheader, 6-0, and left Costa Mesa with a 37-11 overall record, 32-9 in the PacWest. The Lions finished their campaign 28-22 overall and 24-20 in league play. 

The Lions have now posted 12 straight seasons with an above .500 record.

In his final game with the Blue and Gold, Jarred Mazzaferro went 3-for-4 with two RBI. Fellow seniors Abe Hernandez and Christopher Famolaro posted a hit apiece. Outfielder Levi Hall, who went 2-for-4 in game one, also drove in a run in his final game donning the VU uniform.

Graduate transfer Chris Paruleski turned in another gem of a performance. The right-hander won his seventh straight start after lasting 6.2 innings, yielding three runs (one earned) while throwing just 70 pitches. He did not walk a batter. Paruleski lowered his PacWest best ERA to 2.08.

Maxwell Montplaisir, another graduate transfer, picked up his sixth save as he retired the final Westmont batter to back up Paruleski's outstanding effort. Montplaisir finished the campaign with a 2.19 ERA.

Senior Noah Madole had a hit in game one and drew his ninth hit by pitch in the nightcap.

With one week left in the regular season, Vanguard can finish no worse than fifth in the PacWest, culminating a successful first year as an NCAA Division II program.

No. 4 Westmont 6, Vanguard 0

Joey Rico allowed just five hits and no runs over seven solid innings for Westmont. After allowing a first inning, two out double to Josh Schleichardt, Rico limited the Lions to four singles and retired 10 of the final 12 hitters he faced.

Westmont used a three-run first inning to put the Lions in an early hole. Grant Yzermans led off the game with a double and came around to score on Daniel Patterson's base hit. Following a Bryce McFeely double, Trey Dunn delivered a two-RBI single for a 3-0 Warrior lead.

VU starter Spencer Edmondson settled in after the shaky first inning, setting down 11 of the next 12 Warriors. He kept Westmont off the scoreboard for four consecutive innings before the visitors tallied a run in the sixth. McFeely led off with a double and eventually scored on Jesse Di Maggio's base hit.

The right-hander kept the Warriors at bay in the seventh and eighth, finishing off the eighth with a double play. He pitched the first batter in the ninth, getting Zach Mora to fly out before being lifted for reliever Kegan Wentz.

Edmondson logged a career-best 8.1 innings, allowing 11 hits and four runs with a pair of walks and three strikeouts. He threw 129 pitches. 

The Warriors added two runs in the ninth to complete the scoring.

Rico earned the win to improve to 4-2. Zach Yates threw two scoreless innings out of the bullpen for the Warriors.

Vanguard 4, No. 4 Westmont 3

Paruleski allowed a run in the second as the Lions briefly trailed 1-0. Consecutive singles by Dunn and Jack Bollengier put runners at the corners, setting up an RBI groundout for Di Maggio.

But the Lions took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half. Famolaro and Tristan Gallegos recorded back-to-back one-out singles. A potential inning-ending double play ground ball by Tyler Shigenaka was botched by the Westmont shortstop, allowing Famolaro to score the first Lion run.

Mazzaferro laced an RBI single to right center to plate Gallegos for the 2-1 VU lead.

The Lions upped their lead to 3-1 in the third, manufacturing a run on a Schleichardt double, Hernandez groundout and Hall sac fly.

Westmont tied the game in the fourth after scoring a pair of unearned runs off Paruleski. After a leadoff single from Patterson, the Warriors put runners on first and second with one out after a fielding error on Dunn's grounder.

Paruleski got Bollengier on a flyball for the second out, but back-to-back RBI singles from Di Maggio and Andrew Guidara knotted the score at 3-3.

Unfazed, the Lions retook the lead in the bottom half of the fourth. Gallegos drew a leadoff base on balls and Shigenaka laid down the sacrifice bunt to advance him to second. Mazzaferro delivered the clutch double to left to drive in Gallegos for the 4-3 lead.

Paruleski dug in from there as he retired nine straight Warriors. With two outs in the seventh, he left the game in favor of Montplaisir, who struck pinch hitter Orion Medeiros to end the game.

Paruleski improved to 8-2, with the eight wins tying him for second in the PacWest. Montplaisir is tied for sixth in the conference with six saves.

In addition to honoring Edmondson, Famolaro, Hall, Hernandez, Madole, Mazzaferro, Montplaisir, Paruleski, Wentz for Senior Day, the Lions also acknowledged Fred Buckson, Christian Katnik, Jacob Morales, Zach Saufl and Pablo Small in a postgame ceremony.