Tiffin Shines, Bats Alive, Dubs Off Schneid

By Brandon Petersen

It was only a matter of time. 

After a frustrating loss to start the day Saturday at Vanguard, the Westcliff baseball team finally leaped off the Schneid with a 7-0 win over Bethesda. 

Freshman starter Kyle Tiffin, pressed into action thanks to an injury-plagued pitching staff, made a case for himself to take the hill more often with an absolute gem. 

Tiffin pitched six shutout innings on 107 pitches, scattering six hits and walking a pair while striking out six — three looking. 

Colby Weyant pitched a perfect seventh to wrap it up. 

Meanwhile, the Warriors finally said "enough is enough" at the plate and showed out, scoring runs in all but two frames. 

Trey Harmon, who loves hitting at Vanguard, destroyed a pitch with Keith Hale and Caleb Castanchoa on in the bottom of the second to make it 4-0. 

Daniel Esqueda scored Eddie Rivero in the first on a groundout. 

Castanchoa (2-for-3) scored Ulysses Duran with a single to center in the third, and Joe De Francisco did the same, scoring Quinton Knight in the sixth. 

De Francisco then made it 7-0 on a Hale groundout to third. 

The Warriors scored seven on five hits, collecting a pair of walks and not striking out once. After a game in which they swung through too many pitches to start the day, that stat was perhaps the most important the entire afternoon. 

Castanchoa was clutch on Saturday, putting the onus on the Westcliff coaching staff to find him more at-bats going forward. 

Hale finished the day with four hits, and De Francisco was outstanding in both contests.

Most importantly, Westcliff finally got the monkey off its back. 

Now the season truly begins. 

Westcliff travels to The Master's Wednesday. 

First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.