SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – In stark contrast to the high-scoring affairs of last weekend, the Corban University baseball team competed in a couple of pitcher's duels on Friday afternoon, falling 5-0 and 2-0 to No. 25 Westmont College in a pair of tough road contests. Offense was hard to come by for the Navy and Gold, as Corban combined for just six hits on the day.

"It was nice to see our pitchers and defense bounce back today," said head coach Derek Legg. "Once we are able to compete consistently in all areas of the game, we will put ourselves in a better position to find success."

Game one showcased the each of the two teams' aces, as Warrior front man Jonathan Russomano squared off against Westmont No. 1, Grant Gardner. Both pitchers delivered strong performances, as Russomano went five innings, allowing just three hits and one run. Gardner was brilliant on the other side, however, going seven scoreless while striking out eight and holding the Warriors to four hits.

Westmont drew first blood with a Luke Coffey sacrifice fly in the fourth, which stood as the game's only scoring until the seventh. Corban had an opportunity to tie the game in the sixth, when Bradley Thomas led off the inning with a double, and reached third with just one out. The Warriors were unable to convert the scoring opportunity, however, and Westmont doubled their lead in the following inning courtesy of a Taylor Garcia sacrifice fly. Westmont tacked on three runs—two of which were unearned—in the eighth, putting the game out of reach.

Thomas finished as the only Warrior with multiple hits on the day, going 2-3 at the plate in his first start of the season.

Zachary Filos turned in an impressive outing on the mound in game two, throwing six innings of two-hit, two-run ball to keep the Warriors within striking distance throughout the seven-inning contest. However, the Navy and Gold bats were quieted by his Westmont counterpart, Cory Dawson, who was dominating (one hit, no runs, 10 strikeouts) in five innings of work.

Brendan Rodergerdts was responsible for the lone Warrior knock in the 2-0 defeat, grounding a single through the left side in the top of the fifth.

Legg and company will hope to see a similar effort on the mound and in the field tomorrow, while also seeing a return to form on the offensive end.

Corban (0-6) will face off with Westmont again tomorrow in the latter half of the series, with game one of tomorrow's doubleheader set to begin at 11 a.m.