May 21, 2004

Los Angeles, Calif. - Loyola Marymount will take on crosstown rival Pepperdine in the 2004 West Coast Conference Championships, as Pepperdine clinched the WCC's West Division title Friday evening. LMU will host the conference championship for the third time in six seasons May 28-30, 2004.

LMU clinched the Coast Division and the right to host the 2004 WCC Championship Series with the win over Saint Mary's on May 10.

With Pepperdine and Santa Clara still in the West Division title hunt entering last weekend's series, the Waves needed just one WCC win to earn the right to play the Lions for the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Facing each other in last weekend's three-game series, Santa Clara swept Pepperdine to remain in title contention.

This weekend, with Pepperdine at San Francisco and Santa Clara at Portland, Pepperdine still needed one victory to clinch, while Santa Clara would have to win all three and have USF sweep the Waves. While USF did take game one on Friday 9-5, Portland fought off the Broncos 7-6 to hand the West Division title to Pepperdine, despite the Waves' four-game WCC losing streak.

LMU and Pepperdine met in both the 1999 and 2000 WCC Championships, with LMU taking the title series each season.

The WCC Championship, hosted by the winner of the regular season head-to-head series between the two division champions, returns to the Los Angeles area for the sixth time in six seasons. LMU last hosted the championship series in 2000. The championship series will determine the conference's automatic bid to the 2004 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship.

Game one of the best-of-three series will begin Friday, May 28 at 3:00 p.m. Games two and three (if necessary) will be played Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

The West Coast Conference has announced that single-game ticket prices will be as follows: $10 - adult reserved seating $8 - adult general admission seating $5 - adult right field foul line seating $5 - child/student/senior citizen general admission seating

Tickets are available now by calling the LMU Ticket Office at 310-338-LION. Fans will want to purchase tickets early, as reserved seating is limited. Tickets will also be available at Page Stadium, with the Ticket Office opening two hours prior to the first pitch on each game day.

-GO LIONS-