The Pedro Hernandez era of Southwestern baseball officially got underway in splitting four games with 10th-ranked Northern Oklahoma College Feb. 21-22 at Enid, Okla.
The host Jets won the first two games on Feb. 21, 9-2 and 9-4. Southwestern’s left fielder in the opener was freshman Trevor Luther of Creston, a transfer from Midland Lutheran College in Nebraska.
Midland had a new head coach after Luther signed there, and the former Panther opted to transfer to the Spartan program at the semester break.
Erich Gonzalez, freshman outfielder from Bronx, N.Y., was 1-of-3 with a home run and two RBIs for the Spartans in the opener. Starter Zach Maskill was one of four Spartan pitchers.
Rafael Eingenmann, sophomore catcher from Waterford, Mich., led the Spartans in game two with a double, single and two RBIs. Freshman Bradley Lopez of Cayey, Puerto Rico was 2-of-4 with a double and two runs scored. Joshua Santiago of Arecibo, Puerto Rico got the pitching start.
Another local transfer, Ethan Westphal, got the pitching start in one of the two victories on Feb. 22. He went five innings in the 9-5 nightcap victory, yielding two earned runs on one walk and seven hits, with five strikeouts.
Westphal, who prepped at Lenox and Martensdale-St. Marys, transferred at semester from Concordia College in Nebraska.
“It was a good outing,” Hernandez said. “He gave us five solid innings.”
The offense was boosted by a 3-of-4 game from Misael Lebron of Tryilo Alto, Puerto Rico. Samuel Vega, infielder from Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, was 2-of-5 with a double and RBI. Lopez had two hits and an RBI.
Southwestern also won the first game on Feb. 22, 9-8 in eight innings. Lebron had a bases-clearing triple to drive in three runs in the fifth inning. Starter John Bisignano of Windsor Heights went 5 2/3 innings.
The Spartans head to Oklahoma for more games this weekend, taking on Northeast Oklahoma Saturday and Sunday in Miami, Okla.