April 2, 2011

BYU Box Score
UNLV Box Score

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - LMU junior Sam Fischer hit her fifth home run in the last four games but BYU scored 10 unanswered runs for a 10-4 win to start the final day of the Pre-Conference Round-up Saturday in Las Vegas. The Lions (14-19) also dropped the second game on Saturday, falling 6-2 to hosts UNLV to conclude the weekend.

BYU 10, LMU 4 Less than 24 hours after being shutout 4-0 by the Cougars (20-14), the Lions were back at Eller Media Stadium looking to split the season series with BYU. Things started out well for the Lions, who carried a 1-0 lead into the fourth, but BYU scored three times in the fourth and fifth innings and four times in the sixth to pull ahead. Fischer's team-leading ninth home run of the season, a two-run shot in the fifth, was not enough to claw the Lions back.

The Lions started strong, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Sophomore Danielle Smith, who had her career-best 12-game hitting streak snapped the previous day against BYU, led off the frame with a single and was sacrificed to second. Smith moved to third on Fischer's groundout to second, then came home when junior Kelly Sarginson singled to third for her 24th RBI of the season, topping her total from last year. It was Sarginson's 19th RBI with two outs this season and gave her 88 for her career, leaving her four shy of entering the LMU top-10.

Sophomore Molly Medeiros (7-5) kept LMU's lead intact through the first three innings but ran into trouble in the fourth as BYU took the lead. Krista Hicks' RBI double tied things up and Jessica Dugas followed with a two-run triple to make it 3-1.

The Lions would pull back to 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth when junior Kylie Ahlo led off with a double to center, coming home two batters later on freshman Kathryn Dutton's single up the middle. That would be as close as LMU would get, however, as Caschjen Atagi and Delaney Willard connected on back-to-back homers in the fifth to extend BYU's lead to 6-2.

Fischer showed that she can hit the long-ball, too, smacking a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to get LMU back within 6-4. It was Fischer's 36th career home run and eighth in the last nine games. Her two RBI give her 30 for the second straight season and 94 for her career, passing Kirsten Slouber (2006-09) and Ann-Marie Froysaa (1996-98) for eighth all-time on LMU's record list.

LMU's comeback efforts would be thwarted in the sixth when the Cougars tacked on four more runs, highlighted by Willard's bases-clearing double off of sophomore reliever Dana Waldusky, the second of three Lion pitchers in the morning.

Medeiros was saddled with the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits in four innings as she saw her complete-game streak snapped at seven games. Waldusky tossed 1 2/3 innings, giving up four runs on four hits, and junior Corie Goodman closed things out with 1 1/3 innings of no-hit relief.

The Lions were able to muster six hits against BYU pitchers Paige Affleck (12-9) and Hannah Howell, who picked up her fourth save of the season. Senior Jennifer Nayudu had one of those hits, extending her hitting streak to six games.

UNLV 6, LMU 2
UNLV scored twice in the first and three more times in the fifth to stake itself to a 5-0 lead through five and the Lions were unable to overcome the deficit as they left nine runners stranded throughout the game, six of which were in scoring position.

UNLV scored twice in the first on back-to-back RBI singles by Tayler Van Acker and Tayler Aleman, then tacked on three more runs in the fifth on Kylie Wagner's three-run home run that made it 5-0.

The Lions rallied for two runs in the sixth, loading the bases on singles by Ahlo and Harman and a walk to Sarginson. A single up the middle by freshman Samantha Nelson got the Lions on the board and Nayudu followed with an RBI single herself to extend her hitting streak to seven games and cut the deficit to 5-2. LMU would leave the tying run at the plate, however, and the Rebels extended the lead to 6-2 on Pauline Monreal's single in the sixth.

Freshman Stevie Goldstein (2-5) took the loss in 4 2/3 innings of work. She allowed five runs off of nine hits. She struck out one and walked two. Sophomore Erica Grady threw the final 1 1/3 frames of relief for LMU and was touched for one run off of four hits.

Ahlo had two hits of the Lions' seven hits, with Smith, Harman, Dutton, Nelson, and Nayudu providing the other base hits.

LMU will play seven games next week, starting with a noon doubleheader on Monday against Simon Fraser. The Lions will visit UCLA in a make-up game on Wednesday at 2 p.m. before commencing Pacific Coast Softball Conference play against Saint Mary's over the weekend. The Lions and Gales will play doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, starting at noon each day.