The Westmont College baseball team is headed to the Avista NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho.
And former Irvine Valley shortstop Robbie Haw is a big reason why.
The senior along with the rest of the No. 6 Warriors earned a berth in the 10-team, double-elimination tournament by defeating No. 13 Benedictine of Arizona, 10-1, in the final game of the Santa Barbara Opening Round Tournament this weekend.
Westmont improved its record to 43-8 overall on the year.
Haw scored the first run of the game last Thursday. And the leadoff hitter went 1 for 3 on the day with three walks and two runs scored.
"This has been our goal from the very beginning," said Haw on the official website for Westmont College Athletics about returning to the World Series.
"Our confidence as a team feels so high. I think winning the GSAC Tournament - which is something I have never done before and no one on the team has done - and beating a really good Hope (International) team a couple of times built our confidence up. Even when we were down that first game (of the Opening Round Tournament), we knew we could pull it off. There were no doubts."
Looking forward to the trip to the World Series, Haw said, "We have unfinished business in Lewiston. This team is special and I think we can build off last year. The experience we had was a good learning one for a lot of us. We have so many guys returning that it is not going to be overwhelming. It is going to be another business trip."
The NAIA World Series starts on May 26.
On the season, Haw has played in all 51 of the team's games and started 49. He has a batting average of .282 on the year with six doubles, two triples, one home run, 51 runs scored and 29 RBI.
He also has seven stolen bases and an on base percentage of .418.
In 2022 at Westmont, he helped the Warriors to their best season in program history.
Haw, who was was named the Exchange Club of Irvine male scholar athlete of the year at IVC in 2020, and Westmont reached the eighth game of the NAIA World Series in Idaho.
The team finished with a record of 45-13 overall.
Last season, Haw batted .335 with a .947 OPS and a .488 on base percentage.
He played in 57 games and stared 56 contests.
Haw was a scholar athlete every semester at Irvine Valley and starred on the mound and at shortstop for IVC during the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
Before the season was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, Haw was batting .329 with a team-high .477 on base percentage.
In his first year at Westmont in 2021, he was named to the GSAC Gold Glove Team at shortstop.
