By: Megan Sanders, Feb. 11, 2025
Cal Poly Pomona’s baseball team kicked off its season with a three-game home series against the No. 25-ranked Westmont College Warriors where the Broncos walked away with two victories over the course of two days.
The first game was held Jan. 31 and had a final score of 5-4 with the Broncos falling short in a back-and-forth battle.
The Broncos returned for revenge the next day in their doubleheader, winning the first game with a walk-off win and a final score of 12-11, and a final score of 10-6 in the final game of the series.
CPP catcher/outfielder Johnny Pappas was a standout with one homerun in each of the three games. Pappas totaled seven runs during the three matchups. Two came from the Jan. 31 game, four in game two and one in the final game.
According to Pappas, his homerun in game one was bittersweet because he felt like the Broncos had a good chance at beating the Warriors, but he can take the defeat as something to build off of down the road.
“I wanted to see how are we going to respond to getting punched in the mouth,” Pappas said. “I wanted to see, because they’re a good ball club, but we knew they were going to throw some punches, and I think we responded very well.”
Pappas, now eighth all-time in home runs in program history (21), popped open game three with his third homerun against Westmont College out past the left field fence. The Warriors had a strong fourth inning scoring five runs, but they were never able to crawl their way to take the lead. The only other run scored by Westmont College came during the third inning.
Game two was a closer game that went into overtime. The Broncos took an early 1-point lead and held onto it until the fourth inning when Westmont College scored four runs.
The Broncos fought their way back and tied it in the ninth inning, sending the game into overtime.
The Broncos took the victory after Angulo singled to the left side, allowing Pappas to score.
After falling short by one run during the Jan. 31 game, coach Randy Betten said he was happy with the team’s overall performance for the first game back.
“I love the way we compete on the mound,” said Betten. “I love the way we competed on the plate. I love the way we ran the bases. We executed offensively for the most part.”
The Jan. 31 matchup got off to a slow start, but after one scoreless inning, Westmont College put up the first run in the top of the second.
The Broncos hit back in the bottom of the third with two runs. The first run came from infielder Clay Porter after outfielder Jack Sanders singled to center field. Pappas scored the second run for the Broncos off a single out to second base hit by infielder Marco Malerba.
Westmont College scored again during the top of the fifth, then the game went scoreless until the top of the eighth where the Warriors put up another run.
Broncos outfielder Dominic Porter scored in the bottom of the eighth after outfielder Anthony Gibbons singled up the middle.
According to Gibbons, the team put up a good effort and had a nice start to the season despite the outcome not being in its favor.
“We had a good look today, so I feel like that gives us more confidence for the rest of the year and for the next game,” Gibbons said.
Despite the solid effort by the Broncos on night one, when they were unable to get things rolling, but they recuperated and found their ground in the next two games and went back-to-back for the wins.
Feature image courtesy of Megan Sanders