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Sports

BASEBALL: Westmont Out Slugs Branham

Erceg leads Warriors past Branham with three monstrous home runs and eight RBIs.

The Score: Westmont 19, Branham 12

The Stars: Westmont sophomore Lucas Erceg stepped up in his first at-bat with the game tied at two in the top of the second and cranked his first home run of the day, a three-run blast over the center field fence, to give his team a 5-2 lead and the momentum for the rest of the game. Erceg finished the game with a day to remember, going 3-for-4 with three home runs and a staggering eight RBIs in the wild 19-12 Westmont win over Branham High on Thursday afternoon.

Branham senior Robby Anderson was almost perfect and only fell one hit shy of a cycle, going 4-for-5 with a home run, a double, two singles, two RBIs and two runs scored.

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The Turning Point: With the Warriors ahead 8-3 in the bottom of the third with two outs, Branham’s Anderson started the rally with a single up the middle, giving the Bruins dugout something to cheer about. After another single, a pass ball, and a walk, the Bruins found themselves in position to get back into thick of things. Bruins senior Robbie Ferrante  then drilled a bases clearing three-run double to the center field gap to tie the game at eight after three wild innings of baseball.

However, Westmont's offense would prove to have the last laugh. Erceg responded in the top of the fourth with a solo blast-- his second of the day--giving the Warriors the lead yet again. The offensive excellence didn’t slow down as Westmont senior Jonathan Collins went deep with his own two-run blast to over the fence in the center field gap, giving Westmont the 12-8 lead.

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Branham didn’t let down late, pushing four more runs across to end the game.

The Quotes: “For me to hit three home runs felt pretty good,” said Westmont slugger Erceg.

Entering the game, Erceg was batting a mere .150 at the plate. With the Mount Hamilton standings tightening up, Westmont hopes Erceg can springboard his strong performance today into the final games of the season.

“A lot of comebacks, a lot of good hitters on both sides—it was brutal,” said Westmont head coach Tony Pianto on today’s wild slugfest from both teams.

Branham’s slugger wasn’t happy about the loss, but enjoyed being part of such a high octane ball game.

“Tough game, but it was a fun game,” said Branham slugger Anderson. “We were low on pitching so we expected to score high.”

Branham’s head coach liked the fight he saw from his team, especially during the rally to even the score up at 8-8.

“I was proud of our guys for tying things up at eight,” said Branham head coach Landen Jacobs on his team’s rallying performance in the bottom of the third. “I was kind of disappointed though that we couldn’t get ahead of hitters and the fact we weren’t locating with our pitches.”

The Branham Bruins and Westmont Warriors both used four different pitchers Thursday Afternoon.

What’s Next? Westmont (10-8, 8-7 Mount Hamilton) will head to Los Altos to face off against the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza leaders on Saturday. Branham (5-11, 5-10 Mount Hamilton) heads to Hartnell College for a weekend tourney on Saturday.

The Bottom Line: If Westmont can continue with their hitting clinic like they did this afternoon, they can make some serious noise in the Mt. Hamilton race as they sit in fourth respectively in the standings. Both teams offenses showed what they're capable of down the stretch, unloading baseballs all over the yard on a brisk April afternoon in San Jose.

......................................................................................................................... 

 Westmont 19   Branham 12

W 0 7 1 4 3 4 0 - 19  12  4

B  2 0 6 0 0 0 4 -  12  10  3

WP: Conroy    LP: Ash

Records: Westmont (10-8, 8-7 Mount Hamilton) Branham (5-11, 5-10 Mount Hamilton)

 

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