Baseball: Harvard-Westlake defeats No. 1 Chatsworth in Easton tournament final

Starting the season 5-0 and winning the Easton tournament championship on Tuesday night with a 3-1 victory over No. 1-ranked Chatsworth wasn’t the best part for Harvard-Westlake.

It was seeing ace pitcher Jesse Bergin, in his first appearance in more than three months, come out and look like the star he’s supposed to be. Bergin, a junior who shut out JSerra in last season’s Division 1 semifinal, struck out four and allowed two hits in 3 2/3 shutout innings.

His first pitch was a strike and he struck out the first batter he faced. He didn’t pitch until Tuesday while resting his arm after a long 2016 season.

“Everything worked well,” Bergin said. “I didn’t know what to expect. I hadn’t faced a batter in three months.”

What a different pitcher he has become. He has gone from 178 pounds to 204 pounds. He was hitting 91 mph on a radar gun. The UCLA commit had a secret for his weight gain: lifting weights, drinking water, eating nuts and having his parents make him two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while drinking milk before he went to bed.

Harvard-Westlake scored three runs in the first inning off All-City pitcher Tommy Palomera while showing off its talented young players. Freshman Drew Bowser had a two-run triple and freshman Pete Crow-Armstrong had an RBI single.

Sophomore Michael Golob threw two shutout innings of relief to get the save.

“Pitching and defense is what baseball is about and today pitching and defense did the job,” Coach Jared Halpert said.

First baseman Casey Slattery caught two line drives and also dug out a ball in the dirt. The Wolverines begin Mission League play next week against Alemany.

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