Weyant Slams Door on Saint Katherine
There's no love lost between the Westcliff and Saint Katherine baseball teams, the Cal Pac rivals go hard head-to-head, but Friday's double-header at Great Park Stadium wasn't a conference affair. Nevertheless, both contests were played with playoff intensity, especially Game 2, a 4-2 win for the home team that brought the Warriors early-season record to 3-2.
By BRANDON PETERSEN
There's no love lost between the Westcliff and Saint Katherine baseball teams, the Cal Pac rivals go hard head-to-head, but Friday's double-header at Great Park Stadium wasn't a conference affair.
Nevertheless, both contests were played with playoff intensity, especially Game 2, a 4-2 win for the home team that brought the Warriors early-season record to 3-2.
Spencer Lee got the start for the Warriors and went three and a third, allowing two earned on three hits.
"Lee was amazing, he did everything we asked of him," Game 2 catcher Zack Sorondo said. "He did everything he could, he threw strikes."
Lee walked a pair, but wasn't touched up until the fourth, when the Firebirds strung together back-to-back singles before Dylan Jacob doubled down the left field line to score a pair and take a 2-1 lead.
Trey Harmon evened it back up an inning later when he dropped a ball into the right field corner and tripled before scoring on a passed ball.
Colby Weyant got the call out of the pen and was lights out, claiming the win on no earned over three and two-thirds, three hits and no walks allowed.
"This is Colby's second year with us," Westcliff head coach Dave Shermet said. "We didn't have him pegged for a starter, and he's angry. He is a bulldog. He is a competitor.
"He came into today and shut them down."
Weyant finished his outing on 24 pitches, 14 fewer than Lee threw.
"He is throwing everything," Sorondo said. "He's been feeling good, we've been riding him. All he needs to do is keep throwing strikes, he's doing great."
Caleb Castanchoa, a smooth-swinging lefty in the mold of a John Olerud, got the call to pinch hit with one down in the bottom of the sixth.
Facing hard-throwing right-hander Evan Valencia, Castanchoa barreled a double to left. After Sorondo earned his second walk of the contest, Kamauliola Aina hit home the go ahead runs, pinch-runners Jackson Driver and Wyatt Baptiste with a single through the left hole.
"Caleb hits to all fields," Shermet said. " He can pull the inside pitch and go the other way. After the foul ball, there's a little patch of miscolored grass out there, and I said if he could just put the ball there, and he certainly did on the next pitch."
Sorondo got the Warriors off the schneid in the second when he singled up the middle, scoring Keith Hale Jr. to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead early.
Sorondo finished the 7-inning contest with the single and a pair of walks.
"I was just comfortable at the plate," he said. "Pretty relaxed, seeing the ball really well."
The Warriors dropped Game 1 of the double-header, 9-2.
Up next, the Warriors kick off Cal Pac play Friday with a home double-header against Embry-Riddle.
First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
To contact Brandon Petersen, e-mail brandonpetersen@westcliff.edu.