FRESNO, Calif. – Fresno Pacific fell to the streaking Westmont Warriors in back-to-back games 6-2 and 12-6 Saturday at Dan Martin Stadium.  Currently the 8^th ranked team in country, Westmont (17-2, 12-0 PacWest) took all four games against FPU (9-10, 4-8 PacWest) in a very frustrating series for the Sunbirds that featured plenty of power hitting and numerous leads lost to the resilient visitors.
 
 
GAME ONE
 
Fresno Pacific took an early lead in the first when Gabe Henderson walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Trent Mallonee grounded out to shortstop, bringing Henderson home.  The inning would end without a hit, but the 'Birds led 1-0.
 
Westmont evened the score in the second inning off a pair of doubles from Isaac Veal and Jacob Hofstadler.  The Sunbirds were unable to respond in the bottom half of the inning, going three up, three down.
 
Over the next two and half innings both teams combined for five hits, but no runs crossed the plate.  In the bottom of the fifth, the Sunbirds regained the lead off a single up the middle from Chris Clement that scored Jordan Smith from second.  There was a play at the plate Smith was able to beat his fellow catcher to notch the 'Bird's second run of the game. 
 
Westmont looked to counter in the top of the sixth, with Trey Dunn on third with two outs and Jesse Di Maggio at the plate.  With two strikes, the hitter was given a third strike clock violation while the pitcher was ready on the mound.  Westmont head coach Paul Svagdis stormed out of his dugout to argue the call in the face of home plate umpire Steel Rogers, and was promptly tossed.  Tensions between the umpire crew and Westmont dugout had been brewing, following a delayed out call in the previous inning by third base umpire Colin Brown. 
 
Stellar pitching highlighted the next trio of innings, with FPU starter Connor Semone and Westmont reliever Josh Hickey both dealing.  The 'Birds entered the ninth with their horse Semone looking to go the distance once again this season.  Veal was hit by Semone's first pitch, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch.  With the game-tying run 90 feet away, Jesse Di Maggio cranked a 2-run homer to deep left giving the Warriors their first lead of the game.  After a Hofstadler strike out and a Colin Callahan single, Semone's night was over.  Evan Fanconi came in but was unable to stop the damage.  The Warriors would add three more runs thanks to a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly.  The Sunbirds had opportunities in their half but could not convert, leaving two runners on base to close the game.  Westmont would win by a final score of 6-2.
 
Semone was excellent through eight innings before surrendering three earned runs in his 1/3 of the ninth.  He allowed 10 hits to go along with six strikeouts and no walks.  The Sunbird offense only managed four hits in the opener.
 
 
GAME TWO
 
The wind picked up at Dan Martin Stadium between games one and two, and immediately made its presence known at the start of the second game.  Daniel Patterson took starter Dalton Alford deep to left to give the visitors the 1-0 lead just two pitches into the contest.  Two batters later, Bryce McFeely doubled home a second, and then scored himself when Grant Yzermans cranked one out of the park to dead center making it 4-0 still in the first.
 
The Sunbirds countered in the bottom with a pair of runs to cut the deficit to two.  Mallonee continued to make an impact on the bases for FPU, outrunning an attempted double play ball at first and then advancing to third on a steal and passed ball.  A fourth ball wild pitch to Austin Cappas would score Mallonee.  Later, Aaron Martinez Jr. came around to score from second on a Tejean Smith single to left. 
 
Westmont kept pouring it on in the second, with four more runs courtesy of a Michael Soper 2-run double and Jack Bollengier fielder's choice that plated two off a throwing error on Smith.
 
Ethan Tsui led off the second inning for the 'Birds by taking a stray Warriors pitch off his back to reach base.  Garrett Perkins, in his first at-bat of the four-game series, rode starter Ryan Humphreys deep over the left field wall and onto the Haak Tennis Complex to make it 8-4.
 
Patterson hit another shot to left in the third – nearly a carbon copy of his first inning blast – to add a ninth run to Westmont's tally.  The 8^th ranked Warriors led 9-4 until the bottom of the sixth when FPU's Jacob Solorio went yard, this time over the right field wall.  The 'Birds went into the final out of the scheduled 7-inning contest trailing by four.
 
Just when you thought that the Warriors – who lead the PacWest in home runs with 34 – had no more homers left in the tank, slugger McFeely stepped up and slapped his third of the series out of the park with two men on.  It was the sixth dinger of the contest and 13^th between the two teams over the course of the four-game series. 
 
Down to their last out of the game, Cappas doubled in pinch runner Gavin Enns to plate the Sunbirds' sixth and final run of the game.  Fanconi, who pitched in game one but played shortstop in game two, struck out to end the game giving the Warriors a 12-6 win and four-game sweep of the Sunbirds. 
 
FPU played a bullpen game that featured six pitchers, but it was opener Alford who took the loss.  The 'Birds managed eight hits in the game, highlighted by Henderson and Cappas who accounted for half of them.  While FPU had plenty to be frustrated with throughout the series, it was refreshing to see the bats begin to power up for the Sunbirds with numerous deep shots out of Dan Martin Stadium throughout the series.
 
The win was the PacWest-leaders' 16^th straight win and remain a perfect 12-0 in PacWest play.  The 'Birds drop to 9-10 on the season and 4-8 in conference play. 
 
Statistically, the Sunbirds are outperforming their record in many categories which suggest their luck is about to change.  Their team ERA of 4.85 on the mound is good for T-3^rd in the conference.  Despite Westmont's superior win/loss record the teams are T-3^rd for total RBIs with 113, and FPU's 16 home runs is T-4^th.  In terms of plate discipline, only Point Loma has drawn more walks that the Sunbirds (92).  Defensively, the team is as elite as anyone so far, leading the conference in fielding percentage (.984), put outs (501), and is tied with Chaminade for the fewest errors committed (11). 
 
 
UP NEXT
 
The 'Birds will refocus on get to work on preparing for a four-game series away against the Vanguard Lions.  First pitch from Dean Harvey Field in Costa Mesa is set for Friday at 11am PT and will be streaming on the PacWest Network. 
 
 
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