Box Score April 13, 2017 Box Score
Blake Redman tossed seven strong innings, allowing just a pair of solo homers with four strikeouts, and the LMU offense pounded out 12 runs on 16 hits as the Lions (22-12, 10-3 WCC) took the opener of a three-game West Coast Conference series over Saint Mary's (21-12, 5-5 WCC) by a score of 12-3 on Thursday from SMC's Louis Guisto Field.
Phil Caulfield and Spencer Erdman each finished with three hits, as Caulfield went 3-for-5 with a run scored and two RBI hitting out of the leadoff spot. Erdman, who had three hits on Monday against #30 Washington, went 3-for-5 with a double, two runs scored and a RBI. Jamey Smart was one of three Lion hitters with two hits, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored and a two-run homer -- his first round-tripper of the year.
After LMU put a run on the board in the first inning, Caulfield punched across a second in the second inning, delivering a two-out RBI-single to bring home Niko Decolati and make it 2-0 LMU. A four-run fifth inning, highlighted by Smart's two-run homer, extended the lead to 6-0 after five. Redman, who cruised through the first six frames, surrendered solo homers to Kevin Milam and Austin Chauvin in the seventh inning, but those proved to be the only real blemishes on his line en route to earning the victory and moving to 4-5 on the year.
The Lions got right back on track after the two-run bottom of the seventh, plating two runs of their own in the eighth, with Caulfield driving in his second run of the game with another two-out RBI-single. LMU tacked on four more runs in the ninth, with two of the four plating on a double from Jimmy Hill, blowing the game open at 12-2. Hill finished the game 2-for-5 with the double, a run scored and the two RBI.
Saint Mary's scored its final run just as it did its first two, as Milam launched his second solo homer of the game to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Milam now has seven homers on the year, as he finished 2-for-4.
LMU will look to win the series on Friday when it sends LHP Brenton Arriaga to the mound at 3 p.m.
