ROCKLIN, Calif. - The Jessup baseball team secured the series in the final two games this afternoon at McBean Park in Lincoln with a 15-3 victory in game one and a 7-1 win in the final matchup to advance to 4-0 on opening weekend.
"I am really proud of how the boys performed to close the series," head coach
Trevor Paine said. "We got great contributions from lots of different guys and our pitching was incredibly well today with great efforts from Torres, Matsushita, Wetteland, Velasquez and Hook over both games."
GAME 1
The Warriors would hit the board first in the bottom of the first frame as
Kawai Takemura had a lead-off triple, coming in to score the following at-bat as
Austen Swift recorded the sacrifice fly. Corban would respond the next inning taking the 2-1 advantage, but again the Warriors answered right back recording a 7-run inning.
Noah Shackles brought in two runs off a double and the following two runs would score off errors from the visiting Warriors. A trio of singles from
Anders Green,
Joe Starick and
Jordan Yu would bring in the final three runs of the inning for the 8-2 lead headed into the third inning.
A single run would cross for the Warriors in the bottom of the third and a pair would follow in the fifth frame as Corban walked one across and
Cal Koga brought in the Warrior's 11th run of the game.
Jordan Williams clinched his first home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth and the final two runs for the Warriors would cross in the 7th. Corban would hit the board one more time, but Jessup would ride the 15-3 advantage into the final game of the series.
Riccardo Torres took the mound for the Warriors in his season debut collecting the win with 6 innings pitched, allowing just 2 runs with 10 strikeouts.
"Riccardo did a great job of controlling his adrenaline and pitching with composure," Paine commented. "He was getting ahead of hitters which gave him lots of options on how to finish guys. Can't ask for much more out of starting than what Riccardo gave us."
GAME 2
The offensive force by the home Warriors continued in the final game of the series as Jessup put up a 5 run inning to start things off. Takemura would do it again with a leadoff double, coming in to score as Swift singled up the middle. Koga would follow suit and a walk would load the bases, as Corban would walk another across before Duitsman would get an RBI and Shackles would bring in the final run off a single up the middle.
Another three runs would light up the scoreboard for the Warriors in the 5th as Starick led things off with his first home run of the season. The final run for the Jessup would cross as Shackles recorded back-to-back RBI singles for the 7-0 lead.
"The offense came to play all weekend, Paine stated about the Warriors performance in the box. "I thought we had competitive at-bats 1-9 and was impressed with the guys coming off the bench ready to hit and get good swings off."
Corban would escape the shutout with a single run crossing in the top of the sixth but would leave the bases loaded to end the inning.
Jessup opened the season against Corban with the 4-0 sweep, including 20 hits in the third game of the series, the third most hits put up in a single game in program history. The team will continue on home turf next week as they welcome back their final opponent of the 2018 campaign, No. 7 Antelope Valley on Friday and Saturday.
"Antelope Valley is a great team," said Paine, "They will be a difficult matchup. We saw in the regional last year they do everything well so we are going to have to play clean baseball and execute well. I'm excited about that matchup, it should be a great series."
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William Jessup University is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC). For additional information regarding Jessup Athletics, visit www.jessupathletics.com; visit www.jessup.edu for more information on William Jessup University. Follow Jessup Athletics on social media: William Jessup University Athletics (Facebook) and @JessupAthletics (Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat).
