ENCINO — Harvard-Westlake baseball is happily settled in as the Mission League’s top team midway through the season, but Wolverines pitcher Duncan Marsten was throwing angry on Wednesday afternoon against second-place Chaminade.
He channeled his energy to throw for six innings in a 4-1 win over Chaminade, striking out nine hitters and allowing three hits and no runs in his time on the mound.
“I hadn’t really had the most ideal outings in the last two games before this,” Marsten said. “I was just taking the anger from those outings and pushing it towards this one and trusting my stuff again like I should.”
Marsten was an inning away from a complete game, but Jake Chung entered in relief as Marsten exceeded his pitch count.
After Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Eagles (12-5 overall, 8-4 league), Harvard-Westlake (14-2-1, 10-1-1) got its offense going early with two runs in the first inning.
Leading the Mission League is something the Wolverines take pride in, and a bounce-back win was on their agenda.
“It’s kind of our spot,” Marsten said. “Once we’re on top, we don’t like to lose that spot. But now it’s time to show what we’ve got against some bigger teams coming up.”
Away games against Villa Park and Orange Lutheran are on deck for Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, before Harvard-Westlake heads to the USA Baseball National Training Complex in North Carolina for the National High School Invitational.
@haleymsawyer Harvard-Westlake baseball is still on top of the Mission League and beat Chaminade on Wednesday. Full recap at dailynews.com! #journalist #sports #reporter #baseball #highschoolbaseball #pitcher #pitching #wakeforest #studiocity #westhills #privateschool
The Wolverines’ Drew Rico singled in the bottom of the second inning to drive in Ira Rootman for a 3-0 lead.
Chaminade’s Vinny Van der Wee and Carter Bennett got on base in the second inning, but the Eagles were unable to bring in a run.
Chaminade left two runners stranded in the first inning as well.
“We had a chance to score in the first inning and we didn’t,” Eagles coach Kyle Wilkerson said. “And we gave (Marsten) a chance to settle in and he settled in and just started rolling. With guys like that, when you have a chance to put something on early and get in their heads a little bit, that’s what you’ve got to do.”
The Wolverines tacked on one more run in the third inning when Rootman bunted to score Cade Goldstein, who had sent a single down the middle to get on base.
Eight out of nine batters recorded a hit in the game for Harvard-Westlake.
“When the spring kicked, we were struggling a little bit as a group offensively and guys have really worked hard,” Harvard-Westlake coach Jared Halpert said. “We’ve been up and down the lineup now for a couple of weeks. We’ve been swinging it really well.”
Chaminade scored in the seventh inning. Isaiah Hearn was walked at the top of the frame, then Jackson Tyler and Caydin Wilson both singled after that. Vinny Van der Wel’s RBI single earned the Eagles the run.
Chung had also pitched in Tuesday’s game, which gave Chaminade a sense of familiarity in the final inning.
“We didn’t have (consistent fight) until late today,” Wilkerson said. “And, granted, sometimes you get awestruck by a pitcher like (Marsten) and talent like that. But it’s a learning moment for our guys and it’s about halfway through the season, so I hope we adjust.”
Chaminade hosts Kennedy on Tuesday and will resume Mission League play at Alemany on April 16 at 3:30 p.m.
More scores from Wednesday
Calabasas 2, Newbury Park 1
Simi Valley 2, Narbonne 1
Notre Dame 11, Camarillo 0
Royal 2, Ventura 1
Oak Park 2, Foothill Tech 1
Westlake 1, Thousand Oaks 0
Oaks Christian 6, Agoura 1
Hilltop 3, Sylmar 0
El Capitan 5, Cleveland 3
El Camino 17, Taft 0
San Marcos 11, Kennedy 1