This One Was For JJ

by BRANDON PETERSEN

When the Westcliff baseball team took the field for the first time in 2022, they did so without their captain, JJ Sanchez.

Sanchez passed away during Christmas break, and it's been a long journey back to Great Park Stadium for the Warriors ever since.

On Friday, the Warriors celebrated Sanchez in an emotional pregame ceremony, retiring forever his jersey number, 16, as the university awarded him a posthumous degree, and his father, Jason, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

The Warriors hugged Sanchez's family one-by-one, tipped their caps to his number hanging on the outfield wall, and slapped his hanging jerseys -- home and away -- as they came in and out of the dugout.

When the baseball finally began, it was a moment of catharsis, a chance to let the pain go and play in his name, and that they did.

Visiting Bethesda stood almost no chance in a 9-3 thumping the Warriors delivered in come-from-behind fashion for their friend.  

Desi Garcia got the start for Westcliff and was solid, save for a rocky fourth in which he gave up a pair of doubles and three runs.

Garcia finished with four strikeouts and made way to Frankie Villasenor with one out in the sixth.

"It was all about command today," Westcliff catcher Jack Barrios said. "Desi did what Desi does. We had a rough inning, but that's baseball, they're gonna hit. But Desi hit his spots and that was it."

Villasenor was brilliant in relief, claiming the win on three and two-thirds innings pitched, five strikeouts, three hits and no runs allowed.

Both Garcia and Villasenor are veteran Warriors who pitched well for Westcliff during the COVID-shortened year. They both knew Sanchez well and wanted to carry him out to the hill with them Friday afternoon.

"I told Frankie, they're not used to something light, so we're going to mix it up, we're gonna throw a lot of off-speed, and that's exactly what we did," Barrios said. "It got a little emotional there at the end, you know, big hug -- JJ, you know, that was for him.

"The whole day has been emotional, but we rose to the top. We got it done."

Another close friend of Sanchez, Evan Rocha, had himself quite an Opening Day.

It seemed like Rocha came up in every big situation, and time and again, he delivered, going 3-for-5 with five RBI, and a run scored.

Rocha, who pulled off a highlight-reel, diving stop at second for a throw-out early in the contest, singled up the middle to score a pair in the fifth, singled to left scoring a pair in the sixth and doubled to left in the eighth, knocking in his fifth run scored.

"Emotions," Barrios said. "There's something to be said when emotions are that high and you clutch up. You just do what you do. (Rocha) is the right man at the right time. He did what he is supposed to do. It doesn't shock me at all."

Rocha was not the only hot bat, however, as Westcliff churned out 12 hits total and got multiple-hit days from Dillon Kramer and Raul Gonzalez.

As of print time, the Warriors (1-0) are playing Game 2 of their Friday double-header with Bethesda.

The two squads finish off Westcliff's opening series Saturday.

First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Great Park Stadium.

To contact Brandon Petersen, e-mail brandonpetersen@westcliff.edu.