Daniel Esqueda

• Article
• April 23, 2024

It’s been a year of learning and process for the Westcliff baseball team. After a sizable amount of player turnover, and with Head Coach Dylan Hoffman in his first year at the helm, it’s taken the season for the Warriors to develop and start to play their most consistent brand of winning baseball. But if there’s one player Hoffman has been able to pencil in easily from the very start, it’s top-of-the-rotation pitcher Eddie Rios, who started the Warriors’ first-ever playoff game year ago, and had an opportunity to return Westcliff to Mesa, AZ for the 2024 Cal Pac playoffs when he took the hill against Saint Katherine Monday at the Great Park.

• Article
• February 26, 2024

• Article
• January 31, 2024

For those baseball fans of a certain age, the name Greg Maddux is of the household variety.  Maddux was a starting pitcher who won the World Series with the Atlanta Braves.  He was a master tactician on the mound, using speed variation and pin-point control to flummox hitters and eventually earn himself a spot in the Hall of Fame.  But for as good as Maddux was, he was also notorious for disastrous first innings.  Part of what made Maddux so good was ability to recover in games that didn’t start well.  Just as often as Maddux put himself at a disadvantage early in a game was he also just as often able to quickly lock down after a shaky start and dominate the rest of the game.  Such was the script for the Westcliff No. 1 starter Eddie Rios Wednesday at the Great Park, where the Warriors honored their fallen friend JJ Sanchez with a pregame moment of silence, then followed up with a tidy 5-4 win over Bethesda in the first of two. 

• Article
• January 29, 2024

Eddie Rivero is a baseball player who exemplifies what’s best about the 5Cs culture of Westcliff Athletics. Rivero is a humble, selfless, vocal leader who plays through significant physical pain with the highest amount of effort that could be asked of a college student-athlete. Rivero’s leadership was on full display Saturday at Long Beach City College, where he not only secured the two-game sweep ( 13-3, 2-0) of Cal Tech with a clutch, pinch-hit single in the bottom of the eighth, but also did every other added task leaders must accept with his trademark smile and energy.

• Article
• January 23, 2024

It’s been an offseason of the change for the Westcliff Baseball program. Former skipper Dave Shermet was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director of Westcliff Player Personnel, and former pitching coach Dylan Hoffman was promoted to head coach.  The Warriors also graduated a hefty sum of highlight players, including reigning Cal Pac MVP and NAIA All American, Uly Duran.  While others, like reliever Julian Tristan, departed to pursue professional baseball opportunities.  Although much has changed, much remains the same.