Westmont Baseball (27-19, 23-17 PacWest) did what it needed to do to keep its hopes of qualifying for next week’s PacWest Tournament alive. The Warriors swept Friday’s doubleheader against the Oaks of Menlo (17-27, 15-26), winning both games by the score of 3-2.

“We have more work to do tomorrow,” noted Westmont’s head coach Paul Svagdis.

In the early game, Westmont used three pitchers, each throwing three innings, to limit the Oaks to just a pair of runs. Jake Molinar, who served as the opener for the Warriors, did not allow a run. He gave up two hits, struck out two and did not issue a walk.

Joey Rico (4-3) earned the win, allowing two runs on one hit. Rico struck out three and walked three. Brandon Tatch collected his eighth save of the year, keeping the Oaks off the scoreboard to secure the win. Tatch allowed three hits, struck out three and walked one.

The Warriors’ first run of the day came with a bit of controversy. With two outs and Noah Williams at first, Isaac Veal hit a deep fly ball to the warning track in left-center field. The Oaks’ left fielder Gemini Vendiola and center field Jack Nammack converged on the towering shot with Vendiola attempting a diving catch. Facing toward the fence as he dove, his body blocked any clear view of the play from the stands.

Initially, the umpire ruled that the ball had been caught by Vendiola, thus ending the inning. However, after the umpires convened a meeting in the infield, they reversed the decision to the consternation of Menlo fans, players and coaches. Veal was awarded second base and Williams was ruled to have scored on the play.

Westmont’s 1-0 lead held until the top of the second inning when Menlo’s Matt Morrison delivered a two-run home run over the right field fence. Morrison drove in Oliver Hogan who had led off the inning with a walk. That gave Menlo a 2-1 lead – an advantage that did not last long.

Leading off the bottom half of the sixth, Tanner Beltowski pulled the Warriors even with a home run to center field. The ball left his bat at 102 mph, travelled 401 feet and caromed off the batter’s eye.

That brought Veal back to the plate and the Warriors’ center fielder doubled again, this time to right field. Then on a full count, Jesse Di Maggio doubled to left field, driving in what proved to be the winning run.

In the top of the eighth, the Oaks loaded the bases with one away. However, Tatch induced a ground ball from Noah Pang to Westmont second baseman Zach Mora. Mora fielded the ball and threw to shortstop Braydon Griffin for the out at second. Griffin then fired to Di Maggio at first, completing the ending-inning double play.

Menlo threatened again in the top of the ninth. With runners at second and third and two outs, however, Tatch got Shane Aldridge to ground out to first, securing the victory for the Warriors.

In the second game, Westmont’s Caden Beloian (4-2) took the mound and turned in a seven-inning complete game victory – his third complete game of the year. Beloian allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits, struck out eight and permitted just one walk.

Westmont took an early lead, scoring twice in the opening frame to go up 2-0. With one away, Beltowski doubled to left field on a full count. Veal singled to right, driving in Beltowski and advancing to second on the throw to the plate. One out later, Griffin Brown doubled to right, driving in Veal.

In the top of the third, Hogan reached on an error with two away. Morrison made the Warriors pay by launching his second two-run home run of the day, this one to center field.

Once again, the Warriors responded quickly. In the bottom of the third, Williams led off with a single to right, then stole second. A full-count single up the middle by Beltowski advanced Williams to third. Then Beltowski hit a sacrifice fly to left, driving in Williams.

The resulting 3-2 score stood up for the remaining four innings of the game. Menlo threatened in the top of the fourth with men on second and third and one away. However, Beloian struck out DJ Cardinal, then got Aldridge to ground out to second.

“We had two great starts out of Molinar and Beloian,” said Svagdis, “and we got a gutsy three-innings out of Tatch.”

The wins put Westmont in position to contend for a berth in the four-team PacWest Tournament. As of this writing – a little after 7:30 in the evening on May 1 – Westmont is in fifth place in the standings, one game behind Fresno Pacific (29-24, 25-17) and one game behind Hawai’i Pacific (25-19, 23-15).

Hawai’i Pacific is playing Hawai’i Hilo 16-27, 15-23) in the first game of a four-game series on Friday and Saturday. Fresno Pacific took two games from Vanguard (12-36, 9-33) and the two teams will match up again on Saturday. Westmont owns the tiebreaker over both Fresno Pacific and Hawai’i Pacific as a result of head-to-head play.

To get into the tournament, Westmont must both:

1.     Win at least one game to be ahead of Jessup (27-21, 23-19), which is currently in sixth place. Jessup, which has completed conference play, owns the tiebreaker over Westmont.

2.     Win one more game on Saturday against Menlo than Fresno Pacific does against Vanguard.      OR    Win two more games in its series with Menlo (two having already been won), than Hawai’i Pacific does against Hawai’i Hilo (four remaining).

“It’s all hands on deck tomorrow,” said Svagdis. “Go Warriors!”