By John Whallon

Westmont Men’s Soccer has announced the signing of six recruits for the 2014 recruiting class. These student-athletes, with an outstanding combined grade-point average of 3.78, will matriculate at Westmont in the fall. All six are from California.

“This 2014 recruiting class will continue to build on the momentum that was established during our fall season,” said Westmont head coach Dave Wolf. “Similar to the 2013 class, I think the most important attribute of this class is that they are all an excellent fit for the culture of our program. They know the guys on the team well because of their visits to campus, and have already been able to weave themselves into the fabric of our team.”

Wolf commented, “This is another exemplary recruiting class in terms of academic fit for Westmont. Each recruit has impressive classroom credentials. This academic integrity is a vital ingredient to our program. We want players who are able to balance their class work with a demanding soccer schedule. This is also a highly talented recruiting class—with three players having USSF Academy experience (the highest level of club soccer available), and the rest playing on elite club teams in California. All six players were named All-League in their respective high school conferences and many advanced far into the CIF playoffs.”

Playing against Antelope Valley (23-21) for the first time in school history, Westmont Baseball (28-14) extended its winning streak to seven games with a doubleheader sweep of the Pioneers. The Warriors, who outhit the Pioneers 34-15 over the two games, prevailed in the opening game by a score of 13-2 and claimed the second game by 10-2.

Senior starter Casey Schapper (3-0) earned the win in the first game after pitching a scoreless six innings. Schapper allowed just three hits, struck out four and walked two.

The Warriors earned one run in the bottom of the first on an RBI-double by David Gabel that drove in Brandon Gildea. In the second, Derek Rodigo hit a solo home run down the left field line to make it 2-0 in favor of the home team. Later in the second, Steven Pollex doubled to center field, driving in both Ryan Beveridge and Will Barring.

Gildea led off the fifth inning with a home run to right center, putting the Warriors up 5-0. Joey Gonzalez picked up an RBI in the sixth inning when he drove in Beveridge with an RBI single up the middle and Gildea notched an RBI with an infield single that scored Pollex.

[game 1 box] [game 2 box]

Westmont Baseball (26-14, 17-13 GSAC) extended its winning streak to five games by sweeping Arizona Christian (13-27, 5-25) in a Golden State Athletic Conference doubleheader on Thursday afternoon at Russ Carr Field. Westmont took the first game 14-4 and then shutout the Firestorm 9-0 in the seven-inning second game.

Torin Shaikh (6-3) earned the win in the first game, allowing one run on five hits in six innings of work. Shaikh struck out four and walked two Sam Sheehan added two scoreless innings in relief allowing three hits while striking out five and walking one.

The Warriors scored in every inning except two as they exploded for 14 hits. Alex Bushed sent two balls over the outfield fence with a lead-off homerun in the bottom of the fourth and a three-run home run in the fifth. Bush also singled in the seventh to go three for four with two runs and four RBIs.

Blake Mathias also cleared the fence with a two-run pinch-hit home run in the seventh. Steven Pollex produced a rare in-the-park home leading off the fifth inning.

[game one box] [game two box]

By Jordan Wyatt:

Westmont’s Joshua Barnard was named the NAIA Men’s Tennis Player of the Week, the national office announced Wednesday. The native of Glendora is the first ever Warrior Tennis athlete to receive the award.

The junior was selected based on his performances from March 31-April 6 and was chosen from a pool of over 25 nominees residing from conference, independent, and unaffiliated group award winners.

Barnard aided fifth-ranked Westmont Men’s Tennis (12-5, 7-2 GSAC) to a flawless 3-0 streak with an untarnished 6-0 record in doubles and singles play combined. The Warriors claimed their three matches 8-1, 7-2, and 9-0.

Westmont freshman Becky Collier has been named the NAIA National Women’s Outdoor Field Athlete of the Week. Collier won the group “B” heptathlon last weekend at the Sam Adams Combined Event Invitational.

Collier’s score of 4,824 points established a new school record. The previous record of 4,281 was held by Kristin Hempy in May of 2012. Also exceeding Hempy’s former record last weekend was Kristan Holding whose score of 4,338 points currently ranks third in the 2014 NAIA qualifying list.

Collier’s mark is not only the best in the NAIA so far this season, but also exceeds all of last year’s qualifying marks for the 2013 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championship.

While competing in the decathlon, Collier also established a new school record in the high jump, clearing 1.78 meters (5-10). The previous best mark of 1.75 meters (5-9.25) was set by Amber Nixon when she won the 2003 Outdoor National Championship in the individual event.

After going seven for ten at the plate in last weekend’s three-game sweep of #6 Concordia, Brent Fukushima has been named the Golden State Athletic Conference Baseball Player of the Week.

The senior from Kaneohe, Hawaii is hitting .337 this season and has driven in 16 runs. He had at least two hits in each of the three games. In Friday’s game, Fukushima produced two singles in four at bats, including a lead-off bunt single in the sixth inning.

In Saturday’s first game, the Warriors’ second baseman went three-for-four at the plate and scored twice. His bunt single in the second inning loaded the bases with no outs and helped set up a seven-run inning for the Warriors.

In the fifth inning, Fukushima singled up the middle, providing Westmont with runners on first and second with no outs. In the eighth inning, Fukushima doubled to center and later scored the first of three Warrior insurance runs in the inning.

By Jordan Wyatt:

Crushing two top-tier foes in the process, fifth-ranked Westmont Men’s Tennis has improved to 11-5 (6-2 GSAC) on the 2014 campaign after fortifying three victories in five days this past week.

On Tuesday, Mark Basham’s lads took down the #11 Eagles of Concordia (8-7, 5-3) 8-1 in Costa Mesa to kick-start their three-match winning streak. The triumph broke the teams’ league tie and sequestered second place in the Golden State Athletic Conference regular-season standings outright for the Warriors.

The very next day, Westmont recorded a 7-2 home conquest over third-ranked – and defending NCAA Division III national champion – Williams (Mass.) (8-2). The loss with just the fifth for the Ephs in the last two seasons combined.

[Concordia Results] [Williams (Mass.) Results] [Arizona Christian Results] [More Photos]

A handful of Westmont Track and Field athletes travelled to La Jolla over the weekend to participate in the California-Nevada Championships at UC San Diego. When they travelled back to Santa Barbara, they brought home two new school records.

Elysia Hodges improved her own school record in the 400 meter hurdles by nearly half a second, finishing third in a time of 59.16. Hodges was the only NAIA athlete in the field of 33 competitors. Her time is the best in the NAIA so far this year, 1.40 seconds faster than Amelia Maguin of Southern Oregon who holds the second fastest time.

Also rewriting the Warrior record book were Bryan Avendano, John Nealon, Christian Hatchett and Tyler Moore in the 4 x 400 meter relay. The Warrior quartet finished second with a time of 3:14.23. The time was 0.14 second faster than the mark Avendano, Hatchett, Moore and Quincy Braxton established at the NAIA Outdoor National Championships last season.

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