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LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Senior Colin Welmon recorded the victory on Opening Night of the 2015 season as the Lions (1-0) earned the 5-2 win over San Jose State (0-1) in front of 425 fans at Page Stadium on Friday.

Welmon, who was listed on the Golden Spikes Award watch list prior to the 2015 season, delivered another quality outing in his fourth Opening Night start of his career. The right-hander scattered four hits and a walk while allowing just one unearned run and striking out four over six innings. With the victory, the native of Tustin, Calif. improves to 23-10 (.697) in his career. The 23 victories are tied for eighth-most in LMU history, matching those of Drew Bentz (1974-77) and Tom Henderson (1973-76), while his .697 winning percentage ranks sixth.

LMU's second time around the order proved fruitful in support of Welmon, as the Lions broke a scoreless game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth against starter Kalei Contrades. Contrades would ultimately get tagged with the loss after going five innings and allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits. David Fletcher reached with an infield single to get the fourth going before coming around to score on Sean Watkins' first career hit - an RBI-triple into the right field corner. Jimmy Jack put the cap on the inning with a line drive over the shortstop to chase home Watkins.

Both teams benefitted from dropped pop ups in the fifth, handing each an unearned run and leaving the score at 3-1 after five innings. Ted Boeke dropped a one-out pop up for the Lions as he came across from third base, allowing Jack Veasey to reach and move to second. A single from Kyle Morrison moved the runner to third before Tyler Olivet put down a safety squeeze to plate the run. Austin Miller received the gift for the Lions as Chris Williams dropped a pop up at first in the home half of the frame, setting the table for Billy Wilson's second hit of the game and a sacrifice fly later in the inning from Fletcher to drive in the run.

Wilson finished 2-for-4 with a double in his first game as a Lion. Fellow freshman, Watkins, also had a standout debut, going 2-for-3 with a triple, a run scored and a RBI.

In what proved to be the biggest play of the game, sophomore catcher Cassidy Brown picked off Dillan Smith at third base with nobody out in the eighth inning of a 3-2 game. Pinch-hitter Justin Beck drew a leadoff walk before Smith shot a double down the right field line to push runners to second and third. Michael Breen followed with the RBI-single to make it 3-2 with nobody out as it looked like San Jose State was well on its way to drawing even and handing Welmon a no decision. Instead, Brown, the 6'3 backstop from Hudson, Ohio, fired a strike to third on a swing-and-miss and erased the lead runner. Sean Buckle, who tossed two innings and allowed one run on two hits and two walks while striking out three, settled down nicely the rest of the way, striking out the next two hitters faced to keep the lead intact.

The Lions added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, extending the lead to 5-2 on a two-RBI single with the bases loaded from Boeke, before handing the ball over to sophomore closer J.D. Busfield. The right-hander tossed a scoreless ninth inning, including striking out two, to record his first career save.

The Lions and Spartans will continue the three-game series tomorrow at 6 p.m. Redshirt-junior Trevor Megill will make his first start of the season, opposed by lefty Jonathan Hernandez for San Jose State.