SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Riley Way homered in the season opener for the second straight year to help lift the No. 4 LC State Baseball team over the Westmont Warriors to begin 2022. Trent Sellers gave the LC Warriors a strong start on the mound, and a solid performance from the bullpen closed things out in a tight 5-3 contest.
“Trent gave us a tremendous start to open the season,” Head Coach Jake Taylor. “GT (Greg Blackman) and Eli (Shubert) worked out of some situations late in the game. We threw the ball pretty well for the first game. Offensively we weren’t great, but we did just enough to win. We will have to be ready tomorrow for a very good Vanguard team.”
Sellers fanned six batters through his first five innings. The game was scoreless until Westmont’s Simon Reid blasted a solo shot in the sixth to give the hosting Warriors a 1-0 lead. Greg Blackman was given the ball with two outs in the sixth and struck out the first batter he saw to end the inning.
LC State newcomer Nick Seamons tallied the first two hits of the season for the Warriors, both infield singles. His knock in the seventh was followed by a base hit by Luke White before a passed ball brought Seamons across to tie the game.
Sam Linscott gave LC its first lead of the year with a sacrifice fly. The flyout to center plated White to make it 2-1 in favor of the LC Warriors heading into the home half of the seventh. Way broke things open in the top of the eighth with a two-run blast after Dominic Signorelli walked to lead off the inning. The first big fly for LC State in the 2022 season gave the Warriors a 4-1 advantage.
Westmont answered to cut the margin to two with a home run by Brady Renck and threatened for more, but a clutch strikeout by Blackman closed the door and sent the game into the ninth with the LC State Warriors leading 4-2.
White led the off the final inning with a hit-by-pitch and moved to second on a ball in the dirt. Linscott reached on an infield single to move White to third before a balk pushed the lead to 5-2.
Another solo shot by Westmont, this time off the bat of Finn Snider, got the bottom of the ninth started with a bang. The home team loaded the bases before Eli Shubert forced a pop up to second to end the game.
Way’s two-run home run was the difference in the ball game, and Seamons led LC with two hits in his Warrior debut. White scored a pair of runs and Alex Light stole a bag as a courtesy runner.
Sellers went 5.2 innings with six strikeouts. He allowed one run before handing the ball over to Blackman. The junior tallied three clutch punchouts in three innings to earn the win, and Shubert collected his first save.
The road swing continues on Friday in Costa Mesa, Calif., when the Warriors take on No. 13 Vanguard at 1:30 p.m.
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