IRVINE, Calif. – A day removed from a ninth-inning comeback on Tuesday, the Warriors came into Wednesday knowing they had to win to stay alive. With Vanguard on the schedule to start the day, Jessup has chosen to play spoiler in the GSAC after an unforgettable performance Wednesday night.
 
The path to the GSAC Championship Game was going to be tough for the Warriors but not impossible. Jessup would need to first beat the Vanguard Lions and then take on the loser of the morning contest between Hope International and Westmont.
 
Getting the starting nod in game one was the hard-throwing left-hander Christian Winston. Needing to be on his best to keep Jessup alive, Winston got hit early as Vanguard's Joe Johnson hit a two-out grand slam in the first.
 
But Winston never wavered as he held Vanguard hitless for the next 5.2 innings of baseball.
 
"He uncharacteristically put himself into some bad sports and made a bad pitch against a really good hitter," said head coach Trevor Paine on Winston. "He eventually settled down, and I knew his stuff was good enough to get them out and good enough to get swing and miss. Like he did earlier in the season when we played them. So he did everything we asked. He threw up zeros. He gave us a chance to get back in the game and take the lead."
 
With the pitcher dealing on the rubber, the Warriors began to chip away at the deficit, starting with a sacrifice fly from Tuesday's hero Landon Weiss. Two innings later in the fourth, Jaisten Cabatbat delivered a sacrifice fly of his own to make it a 4-2 ballgame. Weiss then delivered an RBI single, putting the Warriors one run away.
 
The Warriors evened the score in the fifth off the bat of Connor Franco. The seventh inning saw Dylan Cole reach on a fielding error that plated Nicholas Hadd to put the Warriors up for good.
 
Paine turned to Marlin Brucato out of the bullpen to toss the final 2.2 innings, and Brucato was on his game. Entering with one out and the bases loaded, Brucato got Vanguard to roll into an inning-ending double play.
 
Brucato got his second-consecutive winning decision as his club took the game 6-4, advancing to take on the GSAC Co-Champions of Westmont Wednesday evening.
 
Westmont swept Jessup in the regular season, but the Warriors showed no fear as Kawaiola Takemura, and Jorge Perez hit back-to-back doubles to start the game and put Jessup ahead 1-0.
 
On the start, Paine noted, "I knew we would need to score to win, and when you lead off the game going double-double, you think you're doing pretty good. But we knew it would be a long game, and we needed to keep scoring."
 
The night game was an offensive slugfest, but early on, Jessup was in a bad spot trailing 4-2 through three innings. Max Moreno got the starting nod, allowing one run in just one inning until Paine handed the ball to Danny Chavez on short rest.
 
Chavez had pitched on Monday, and while he did have six runs credited to him Wednesday night, the performance by the senior right-hander was incredible. Lasting 5.1 innings and throwing 90 pitches, Chavez would push his record to 7-3 as he was the winning pitcher.
 
"Danny told me going into the week, whatever you need, he will do," added Paine. "Don't worry about pitch count, don't worry about anything. He will be good to go. He's just a competitor."
 
Jessup took the lead in the fourth with a three-run inning and proceeded to add run after run in the sixth as they posted five in the frame. But Westmont would not go away, scoring six runs in late to draw within two.
 
In a déjà vu situation with the bases loaded and one out, Paine once again went to Brucato. Brucato came out of the bullpen and quickly struck out two batters to avoid the jam.
 
The Jessup bats could not be silenced in this contest, as a two-run lead was not good enough because they plated five in the ninth to go ahead 17-10. Caleb Markwith came on to shut the door, and two strikeouts from the young righty clinched a win and an extension of the season.
 
The six seed in the GSAC Tournament will now play for a chance to be GSAC Champions.
 
Jessup will take on Hope International tomorrow at 2 p.m., needing two victories to clinch a championship. Hope International will only need one win as they have yet to lose in the postseason.
 
"We feel as good as we can in this situation," concluded Paine, who will face a team that beat his on Monday. "I told our guys that today was the best game we played all year. I think if we can roll into that tomorrow, then I like our chances."  
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).