March 9, 2004
Box Score
Los Angeles, CA (Mar. 9) - The Loyola Marymount Lions baseball team extended their winning streak to six games by defeating UC Santa Barbara 11-9 Tuesday afternoon. The Lions nine run first inning proved to be the difference in the game.
LMU (11-4, 3-0) used a two out rally in the very first inning to set the tone for their game at UC Santa Barbara (10-8). WCC player of the week Billy Lockin led off the game with a single to right center. With one out he moved to second when Jonathan Higashi walked and moved to third after Kyle Mura singled. James Cooper then delivered Lockin home with the game's first run with a sacrifice fly to center field. That's when the Lions took off; getting the next seven batters on base while scoring eight runs.
After Cooper's RBI, Clint McGill dropped down a perfect bunt to load the bases. Jonathan Oller was hit by a pitch to force in a run and keep the sacks full of Lions. The very next pitch from Gaucho starter Brian Tracey (1-1) was a wild pitch to force in another run making the score 3-0. Brady Koch would draw a walk in the at-bat to reload the bases. Anthony Soto would also walk, this one bring in a run to make it 4-0. Lockin would come back up to the plate and deliver a two run single for his second hit of the inning. Joe Frazee came up next and worked a walk to once again load the bases. After another wild pitch scored a run, Higashi would cap off the marathon first inning with a two run single to right to make it a 9-0 game before Santa Barbara could even bat.
Kevin Jensen was called on from the bullpen to replace starter Daniel Macias and worked three and a third innings allowing three earned runs, but only let the Gauchos get as close as 10-7. Gabriel Bueno (2-0) also pitched three and a third innings and allowing just one run to get his second win as a Lion. The pitching hero of the day however, turned out to be Erik Reyes who came out of the pen with the tying and go ahead runs on base in the eighth and two outs. Reyes got a groundout to get out of the jam and then pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his first save of the year and the first his career.
In the game, Lockin followed up his WCC player of the week award by collecting four hits, while driving in two and scoring two. Higashi followed up his dramatic weekend by going 2-for-3 with two RBI. Cooper did the same going 2-for-3 with two RBI and Clint McGill had two hits. Oller rounded out the Lions impressive day by driving in two runs and collecting one hit. LMU has now won six straight games and have combined to score thirty runs in their last three games.
The Lions will continue their road trip with a trip up to the Pacific Northwest to face the University of Washington in a three game set this weekend. The game times are set for 6:30 pm on Friday and 1pm starts on Saturday and Sunday. All three games of the series can be heard on the Lions Audio Network. www.LmuLions.com.
- GO LIONS -
