May 2, 2004

Box Score

Los Angeles, Calif. Jonathan Oller hit a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning to give Loyola Marymount baseball the lead for good, as LMU took the West Coast Conference series' deciding game 12-6 Sunday afternoon at Page Stadium. With the win, the Lions (27-20-1, 17-7 WCC) remain three games ahead of second place San Diego in the WCC's Coast Division and earned the right to host the WCC Championships should the Lions and Pepperdine (20-24, 14-7 WCC) hang on to win their respective divisions.

LMU got on the scoreboard quickly in the top of the first when Billy Lockin connected for a lead-off triple to deep leftcenter field and later scored on James Cooper's sacrifice fly to left.

The reigning WCC/Rawlings Pitcher of the Week was just one walk off of a perfect first two innings, as Jeff Stevens faced just seven batters. But Luke Salas made it a 3-1 Pepperdine lead in the third when he put one over the fence in right field to score runners from first and second.

LMU answered in the fourth, beginning when Pettit drew a walk from Pepperdine starter Robert Della Grotta. A.J. LaMonda then doubled down the right field line to advance Pettit to third. Oller tied the game at three with a two-out, two-run double to left center.

The Waves went ahead 4-3 in the sixth when Justin Sandberg's fielder's choice scored Kliebert, who had walked.

But the Lions continued their trend of big six innings, starting with Frazee, who was Della Grotta's fourth walk of the day. LaMonda's single up the middle moved Frazee to second and forced Pepperdine to send Brandon Boesch to the mound. Santana reached first on a fielder's choice, but all runner's advanced safely to load the bases for Oller. Oller, who had also hit a homerun in Tuesday's game at San Diego State, connected for his first grand slam of the season to put the Lions up 7-4. Oller's last grand slam also came in WCC play, as he hit two in the Portland series during March 2003. "I knew I had been struggling a lot at the plate, but coach told me to go up there and just do my thing," Oller said.

With the four runs posted in today's sixth inning, the Lions have now outscored their WCC opponents 22-2 in the sixth inning of the last seven contests.

LMU added one more run in the seventh and four in the eighth, giving Stevens some insurance runs. In the seventh, Chris Pettit's double to left scored Frazee, who had singled up the middle off new pitcher Paul Coleman.

Cooper's single through the right side in the eighth scored Soto, who pinch ran for Anthony Santana after Santana drew the lead-off walk from new reliever James Johnson. A Johnson wild pitch then scored Lockin, who had also walked earlier in the inning. Higashi kept the big inning going for the Lions, singling to the left side to score Cooper. Frazee ended the inning with an RBI triple, but was caught at home plate trying to leg it into an inside-the-park homerun.

Senior Matt Cova and junior Gabriel Bueno shared the ninth inning pitching duties for the Lions. The Waves added two runs, but Bueno got Chad Tracy looking at the third strike to end the game and the crucial WCC series. Stevens finished the day allowing just five hits in eight innings, while striking out five. The sophomore moves to a perfect 5-0 on the season with today's win.

Della Grotta was charged with the loss for Pepperdine, and he falls to 0-4 on the season after surrendering five earned runs on five hits in 5.1 innings of work.

The Lions were led by Oller, who finished the day 2-for-4 with six RBI and one run scored. Frazee added a 2-for-4 effort at the plate with one RBI and two runs scored, while LaMonda went 2-for-3 and crossed the plate twice.

With San Diego and Gonzaga both losing their WCC match-ups today, the Lions take a three game lead over second place USD. If the Lions and the Waves were to both hold on to clinch their divisions, LMU would host the WCC Championship at Page Stadium thanks to today's series win.

Today's match-up marked the final weekend home game of the 2004 season, and the Lions honored their seven seniors, Lockin, Cova, McGill, Jonathan Higashi, Will Quaglieri, Brady Koch, and Kevin Jenson in a pre-game ceremony. "It was a big day for our seniors," Oller said. "We knew we were going to find a way to win it for them."

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