By Kyle Gregory
Correspondent
Westlake baseball dropped their second consecutive district game in Friday night’s 5-3 loss to Austin High.
Westlake (20-5, 8-4 in District 15-5A) held Austin High (8-4) scoreless for the majority of the game, but the Chaps were undone by a shaky fifth inning in which the Maroons scored all five of their runs.
“You give them five runs, and I mean literally give them five runs, that’s just bad baseball,” said coach Jim Darilek.
Both teams struggled to score in the early going until the top of the fourth inning, when Westlake got back-to-back doubles by Zach Suarez and Carson Viglione to put the Chaps ahead by 1-0.
Westlake added to its lead in the fifth with two more doubles. This time, left fielder Tate Shaw was driven in by pitcher Lewis Guilbeau, putting Westlake up 2-0.
Then things fell apart for Westlake in the bottom of the fifth.
Guilbeau walked the first two batters of the inning, both of whom advanced to scoring position by stealing. With runners on second and third and no outs, Guilbeau was able to strike out the next two batters and give Westlake some breathing room.
The breathing room was short-lived, however, as both Austin High runners were able to score on wild pitches, tying the game 2-2. Another batter reached on a walk, allowing Austin High’s Greg Salinas to drive in a third run with a stand up triple. Another walk, followed by a two RBI single put Austin High up 5-2.
Relief pitcher Sean LaBaw then came in and ended the inning by forcing a groundout.
Westlake managed a brief rally in the sixth. The first two Westlake batters reached on an error and a walk, but a double play caught the lead runner and left the Chaps with a runner on second and two outs. Right fielder Alex Cabezas drove him home with a single, bringing the score to 5-3 after the sixth.
Shaw led off the seventh with a single, but Westlake was unable to capitalize on the hit.
“Once we were down by two runs, I thought that we were in it, but it didn’t go our way,” said Cabezas. “We’ve just got to keep hitting, we’ll be back.”
Guilbeau pitched 4 2/3 innings with six hits, five runs, four strikeouts, and five walks. LaBaw contributed 1 1/3 innings of relief with no runs, no hits, one strikeout, and no walks.
Shaw led the Westlake offense in hits, going 2-for-4 with a double. Guilbeau went 1-for-4 with an RBI double, and Viglione went 1-for-3 and also had an RBI double. Suarez rounded out Westlake’s slugging by going 1-for-4 with double and Cabezas was 1-for-2 with an RBI and a walk.