The smell of hot dogs on the grill was in the air Thursday afternoon as Westmont (11-5, 9-3 BVAL-MH) edged host Pioneer (4-10, 3-8), 7-3, in an extra-inning Blossom Valley Athletic League Mount Hamilton Division thriller.
Senior J.D. Hearn led the charge for the Warriors (11-5, 9-3 BVAL-MH) as they pushed across four runs in the 10th inning to finally subdue the Mustangs (4-10, 3-8). Following back-to-back base hits by his brother Matty Hearn and teammate Lucas Erceg, J.D. Hearn went deep to left field off of Pioneer pitcher Matt Dileonardo for a three-run homer to put Westmont up 6-3.
Hearn, who was picked off in the seventh following a leadoff double, was looking to redeem himself.
“I wanted to pick up myself, you know, I made that mistake at second, I really wanted to bat, I wanted that at bat really bad, and it happened,” said J.D. Hearn, who finished 2-for-5 with a double, a home run, two stolen bases, and two RBIs.
The Warriors added another run to their lead in the tenth with base hits from Willie McMullen and Nick Meyer. Senior Colton Fletcher finished off the Mustangs in the bottom of the 10th, striking out left fielder Desmond Small to close out the game.
Pioneer, which loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh and ninth innings, left a total of nine runners on base - including six in scoring position.
“We just failed to execute. We had our opportunities," said Pioneer coach Jake Hernandez. “We failed to do the little things, like get runners over on sac bunts." The Mustangs also struck out 10 times.
Westmont took a lead on the Mustangs early. Daniel Speciale led off the game with a base hit, followed by a triple from Matty Hearn. Hearn then scored on a diving stop by first baseman Dakota Calvert on a ground ball off the bat of Lucas Erceg. Just like that, the Warriors were up 2-0.
Jacob Munson shined on the mound for the Mustangs, entering the game in the fourth inning for starter Zach Silva (3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H) to silence the Warriors for six innings. Munson surrendered only three hits on 90 pitches and picked off two baserunners, including J.D. Hearn in the seventh.
“I thought he did well,” Hernandez said. “He was effective. His pitch count just got up too high, so we took him out and went a different direction.”
Dominic Zucca was another standout for Westmont. Relieving for starter Lucas Jacobsen, the knuckle-balling senior threw four shutout innings of two-hit baseball to keep the game close.
“Today I tried to throw strikes and I was successful in the win but only thanks to our awesome defense," Zucca said. "Ayden Faria did a great job behind the plate stopping the ball in the dirt with bases loaded; he gave me confidence to throw the pitches I needed to.”
Offensively for Pioneer, Desmond Small hit the ball well, going 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
Pioneer will try to snap its five-game losing streak at Live Oak (5-10, 3-3 BVAL-ST) Thursday, while Westmont looks to continue its six-game win streak at Los Gatos (10-4, 6-0 SCVAL-EC) on Friday.
