Feb. 17, 2011
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
BRIEFLY
Third-year Head Coach Jason Gill took his first team of Lions to the 2009 WCC Championship series, narrowly missing LMU's first berth into the NCAA Tournament since 2000. Last year, Gill's squad fell short of expectations, dropping to the bottom of the West Coast Conference - forcing a few changes in the program. Now sporting an entirely new support staff of coaches, Gill and the 2011 Lions will look to begin the ascent up the WCC standings this weekend when they open the 2011 season at home against UC Riverside. Friday's game one is slated for a 2 p.m. start, after which the two teams will travel to Riverside to play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 12 p.m. The Lions and Highlanders will wrap-up the four-game set on Sunday back at Page Stadium at 1 p.m.
QUICK PITCHES
• The Lions garnered a WCC-best four players on the Preseason All-Conference team
• LMU is 6-4 over its last 10 season-openers
• LMU went 23-33 overall last year
• The Lions are 3-2 over their last five games against the Highlanders
• Matt Lowenstein became the ninth LMU player to be selected WCC Freshman of the Year in 2010
• Ryan Hawthorne finished last year ranked 39th in the nation in toughest to strikeout, averaging one per every 15.3 at bats
• Jonathan Johnson is second in the LMU record book for triples in a career with 16
• The Lions were picked to finish fifth in the WCC according to the coaches' preseason poll
• Twenty-eight of LMU's 31 baseball players on the 2011 roster hail from California
• Head Coach Jason Gill is 3-0 against his alma mater, and perennial-powerhouse, Cal State Fullerton
PICKED BEFORE THE PITCH
Four LMU baseball players earned Preseason All-West Coast Conference selections, the conference office announced on February 10. The four selections are more than any other WCC team. A Freshman All-American, and last year's WCC Freshman of the Year, Matt Lowenstein is joined by senior Jonathan Johnson and juniors Martin Viramontes and Ryan Hawthorne on the Preseason All-Conference team. Hawthorne capped the 2010 season by being selected first team All-WCC. The four players highlight a team that is picked to finish fifth in the competitive West Coast Conference.
LION TRACKS
LMU finished the 2010 season with a 23-33 overall record and a 5-16 mark in the WCC, placing eighth in the conference. The Lions dropped nine of their last 11 games, including seven of the last nine, in 2010. Freshman Matt Lowenstein proved to be a highlight of the season. The left-handed hitter seemingly had no trouble with the transition from high school into Division I baseball in 2010, garnering a pair of All-American selections. Lowenstein was named to Collegiate Baseball Newspapers' Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American team, and also found a spot on Ping!Baseball's second team Freshman All-America squad. He became the 13th Lion player to be named a Freshman All-American, and the first since Angelo Songco in 2007. In addition to Lowenstein, who garnered West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year and a spot on the All-WCC honorable mention team, two other Lions were also honored by the conference post-2010. Ryan Hawthorne and Chris Eusebio garnered All-WCC first team and honorable mention honors, respectively. For Hawthorne, the first-team selection was the first of his career after earning a spot on the All-Freshman team and an honorable mention selection in 2009. The selection marked the first time Eusebio had been honored by the WCC.
Sunday's baseball game against UC Riverside is this week's TEAM LMU Game of the Week. The purpose of TEAM LMU is to bring Lion fans together as one, creating an atmosphere that helps build the Lions into champions, while allowing all to enjoy the benefits of our corporate partners. For more information about TEAM LMU, log on to:
www.LMULions.com/teamlmu
HOME SWEET HOME
Now in its 29th season as the home of Lion baseball in 2011, George C. Page Stadium has established itself as a tough place for opponents. Boasting features such as the Mikos Blue Monster, Pride Park and the Lion's Cage down the line in right field, Page Stadium continues to stake its claim as one of college baseball's most unique ballparks. The Mikos Blue Monster is a replica to Boston's Fenway Park's Green Monster. The Mikos Blue Monster stands 130-feet wide and 37-feet tall. Within the wall is one of only a handful of manual scoreboards in all of college baseball. The board itself isn't small, standing 18-feet tall and 46-feet wide. The Lions, who have posted a 453-344-4 (.568) overall record in the park's 28 seasons, have claimed five conference titles while calling Page Stadium home. The first Page Stadium conference title came in 1986, when the Lions posted a 24-8 record at home. The best record came in 1988, when LMU was 30-5 at home (.857).
NEW INTERACTIVE YEARBOOK AVAILABLE ONLINE
LMU Athletics, in conjunction with zmags.com, is proud to offer fans a new interactive publication viewing experience. All LMU yearbooks in 2010-11 will incorporate zmags' Flash-enabled technology to bring fans clickable content featuring videos and live updated web links. Despite the transition from printed guides to online content, LMU interactive guides will continue to feature player and coach biographies, team histories, and information about Loyola Marymount University and its athletics programs. The publications will work in tandem with LMU's official athletics website, www.LMULions.com, to offer up-to-date statistics and news. Additionally, the publications are easily downloadable and printable, allowing fans to take the documents with them. All historical information is available in a second PDF publication, also on www.LMULions.com. To view the 2011 publications, please visit:
2011 LMU Interactive Yearbook and Record Book
ALL-CONFERENCE RETURNERS
Freshman Matt Lowenstein was named West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year, it was announced by the conference office on June 3. Lowenstein became the ninth LMU player to be selected WCC Freshman of the Year, and the first since Angelo Songco earned the award in 2007. Lowenstein, who also garnered All-WCC honorable mention accolades and a spot on the All-Freshman team, saw teammates Ryan Hawthorne and Chris Eusebio garner All-WCC first team and honorable mention honors, respectively. For Hawthorne, the first-team selection was the first of his career after earning a spot on the All-Freshman team and an honorable mention selection a year ago. The selection marks the first time Eusebio has been honored by the WCC.
Lowenstein, who hit safely in each of the last 16 games of the year, batted .344 with 32 runs scored, 15 doubles, four triples, a homer and 30 RBI in his inaugural season. Lowenstein finished the season first on the squad in on-base percentage (.419) and was second in batting average (.344), triples (4), doubles (15) and stolen bases (5). The native of Chino Hills, Calif. amassed 15 multi-hit games and eight multi-RBI games.
Hawthorne was on an offensive tear virtually all season, including a team-best 19-game hitting streak that ran from March 12-April 11. Hawthorne batted .390 (30-for-70) with 10 runs scored, six doubles, a home run, six walks and 13 RBI over his 19-game streak. The left-handed hitter batted safely in 40 of his last 45 games played last year. Overall on the year, he batted a team-best .364 with 30 runs scored, 17 doubles, a triple, two home runs, 17 walks, three hit-by-pitches and 44 RBI. He slugged .481 and reached base at a .414 clip. After batting .091 through his first three games, and .211 through his first five, Hawthorne batted .379 since March 5, a span of 48 games.
Eusebio was the most called-upon option out of the Lion bullpen for the second consecutive year in 2010. The right-hander appeared in 19 games, accumulating a 4-0 record and a 3.56 ERA. He tossed 30.1 innings and struck out 22 batters en route to saving six games for the Lions. The six saves place him tied for fifth in the LMU single-season record books, while his eight career saves rank tied for eighth all time.
A BIT OF BACKDRAFT
Two of the three Lion players selected in 2010 MLB Draft are back with the team in 2011. The Tampa Bay Rays selected then-redshirt-sophomore catcher Matt Koch with the 671st overall pick in the 22nd round of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft on June 8, while fellow redshirt-sophomore Martin Viramontes was taken just five rounds later, selected as the 835th overall pick in the 27th round by the New York Yankees. Former Lion Xavier Esquivel also went in the draft, taken by the San Diego Padres with the 1,024th overall pick in the 34th round.
TALK ABOUT A TOUGH OUT
Sophomore Ryan Hawthorne finished the 2010 season ranked 39th in the nation in toughest to strikeout, averaging one strikeout per every 15.3 at bats. The native of Granada Hills, Calif. struck out 14 times in 214 at bats last year.
SO MUCH FOR A POWER OUTAGE
LMU hit 42 home runs in 2009, and of those 42, just eight came from the bats of players who were still on the roster in 2010...that is a mere 19 percent of the home runs from the previous year. Taking that into consideration, LMU was expected to experience a "power-outage" in 2010. LMU avoided the `curse', belting 46 home runs in 56 games. Matt Koch led the way with 15 home runs, followed by Alex Guthrie and Brad Bauer with six apiece. The Lions return 39 of the 46 homers from last year in 2011 - nearly 85 percent.
JOHNSON IS A TRIPLES MACHINE
Junior Jonathan Johnson went 4-for-4 with four runs scored, two triples, a double, a walk, a sacrifice fly and three RBI in LMU's 14-9 loss to Saint Mary's on April 30 at LMU's Page Stadium. The second baseman nearly completed the cycle as his first triple hit off the top of the wall in straightaway centerfield in the third inning. The leadoff hitter finished the year with nine triples, running his career total to 16. He is now tied for first in the single season record book for triples (Dan Henry collected nine in 1975), while the 16 career three-baggers place tied for second all-time with Billy Bean (1983-86), as he trails only Bob Sheldon (19 from 1969-72).
HAWTHORNE IS A SERIAL STREAKER
Sophomore Ryan Hawthorne had his team-best 19-game hitting streak snapped after a 0-for-4 day on April 13 at Long Beach State. Hawthorne batted .390 (30-for-70) with 10 runs scored, six doubles, a home run, six walks and 13 RBI over his 19-game streak. He collected multiple hits in nine of the 19 games, including three straight from March 19-20, and then again from March 28-31. Despite not recording a hit on March 7, April 13, April 27 or May 2, Hawthorne did reach in all four games via a walk or hit-by-pitch, and thus reached base safely in 36 straight games from March 5 through May 12. The streak came to an end when Hawthorne went 0-for-4 against Pepperdine on May 14. He hit safely in 40 of his last 45 games played last year.
ANOTHER TOUGH SCHEDULE
According to boydsworld.com, the 2011 schedule ranks 19th in the nation in terms of projected Strength of Schedule (SOS), which takes into account the projected results and success of LMU's opponents this season. Last year, LMU finished the year ranked 56th in Strength of Schedule, 123rd in Iterative Strength Rating (ISR), which is essentially a measure of the quality of a team's season by combining its winning percentage with the difficulty of its schedule, and 188th in Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the official measure of team quality used by the tournament selection committee. This year's slate consists of 55 games, including 28 at home in Page Stadium. The schedule also features 13 games against 2010 NCAA Regional qualifiers, including three games against Super Regional participant Cal State Fullerton. Four of LMU's opponents (Cal State Fullerton, San Diego, UC Irvine and Hawai'i) were listed in one of the major four polls to begin the season, with Fullerton ranked as high as eighth according to Baseball America.
NEARLY A NO-NO
Sophomore Martin Viramontes carried a no-hitter through two out and two strikes in the ninth inning en route to tossing a two-hit shutout against Saint Mary's on May 2. For his effort, Viramontes was named WCC Pitcher of the Week and CollegeBaseballInsider.com's West Region Pitcher of the Week. Moreover, he was also named to College Baseball Foundation's National All-Star Lineup. The native of Fresno, Calif. went all nine innings, allowing just the two hits and two walks while striking out a season-best nine batters. He threw 132 pitches en route to the complete-game two-hit shutout. The right-hander retired 15 straight from the fourth inning through the first Gael hit, collected by Ryan Mulligan, on a 3-2 pitch with two-out in the ninth.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING FOR LOWENSTEIN
Freshman Matt Lowenstein did something that no Lion had done since 1991 on March 27 in the second game of a doubleheader against Albany. The freshman from Chino Hills, Calif. finished 4-for-4 with four doubles, a run scored and a RBI. The four doubles matched a program record set by Joe Ciccarella on February 23, 1991 against San Francisco.
AND THE SURVEY SAYS
For the second straight year, the LMU baseball team was picked to finish fifth overall in the West Coast Conference in 2011. LMU earned 23 total points in the annual preseason coaches' poll conducted by the league's eight head coaches. San Diego garnered six first-place votes and amassed 49 overall points. The coaches selected Pepperdine to finish second in the WCC with 39 points, followed by San Francisco in third with 33 points. Portland, which captured the remaining first place vote, came in fourth with 32 points. LMU and Gonzaga (20 points) were selected fifth and sixth, while Santa Clara (16 points) and Saint Mary's (12 points) rounded out the poll.
GET OFF ON THE RIGHT `PAW'
Since 2001, LMU has been victorious in six of its 10 games on Opening Day, falling to No. 7 UC Irvine on the road last season by a count of 5-1. LMU earned an 8-7 "walk-off" victory in 11 innings over Utah in 2009. The Lions defeated Cal State Northridge, 7-3, in 2001's opener at Page Stadium before defeating UC Santa Barbara on the road to start the 2002 campaign. LMU failed to make it three-straight in 2003, dropping a one-run decision to Cal to open the year. LMU was back to its winning ways in 2004, knocking-off UC Riverside, 5-4, and getting revenge against Cal with a one-run victory in 2005. Starting the 2006 season on the road in Arizona, LMU dropped the first game of the year, 10-5, before rebounding in 2007 with a 9-5 victory over Sac State. Sac State got the best of the Lions in 2008, defeating LMU by a count of 11-7 to open that season in Sacramento.
PCH CHALLENGE
Separated by 19.1 miles of scenic coastline, longtime cross-town adversaries Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine have come together in an effort to boost their decades-long rivalry with the creation of the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) Challenge. The series, which is in its second year, serves as an annual scorecard for the NCAA-sponsored athletic contests between the Lions and Waves, and challenges each institution to rise above the other within the West Coast Conference. LMU and Pepperdine will be represented by over 12 of their intercollegiate athletic teams through both regular and post-season competitions over the course of the academic calendar. Any head-to-head competition, including matches in the postseason and tournaments throughout the year, will be counted toward the scoring and added to the scorecard as they occur. For the sports in which the two teams do not meet head-to-head, the teams will battle for points that will be awarded on the basis of overall finish at their respective postseason championships. Pepperdine currently leads LMU in the 2010-11 standings, 7.5-6.0. To learn more about the PCH Challenge and view the current scorecard, please visit:
PCH Cup Homepage
LOCALLY GROWN
Twenty-eight of LMU's 31 baseball players on the 2011 roster hail from California. Of those 28 players from California, 24 are from cities within 100 miles of the LMU campus. The three out-of-state players are sophomore Zac Fujimoto from Aiea, Hawai'i; freshman Kevin Kennedy from Phoenix, Ariz.; and sophomore Steve Dueñas from Kirkland, Wash.
