Box Score

Cory Abbott continued his stellar pitching on Sunday afternoon, tossing 7.0 shutout frames and allowing just five hits and no walks with nine strikeouts as LMU (21-11, 9-3 WCC) defeated Santa Clara (7-24, 3-6 WCC) by a count of 5-1 to earn a series win and move to 7-0-1 in weekend series this year.

With the seven shutout frames, Abbott, who advanced to 6-1 with the win, has now thrown 29.1 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run dating back to March 12.

Abbott handed the ball over to Codie Paiva in the eighth after 96 pitches, as the right-hander tossed the final 2.0 innings and allowed one unearned run on three hits with two strikeouts.

Offensively, LMU was out-hit by Santa Clara, 8-4, but the Lions took advantage of a pair of Bronco errors while drawing five walks. Jamey Smart went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and walk, while Jimmy Hill collected a pair of RBI in putting LMU on the board with a two-run single in the second.

LMU tacked on two more in the third to extend the lead to 4-0, and later added a run in the fifth to make it 5-0 headed to the sixth. That lead proved plenty enough for Abbott and the Lions, as the native of San Diego scattered a handful of hits while cruising through the middle innings.

The Broncos did manage to plate an unearned run in the ninth inning after Tyler Meditz singled and moved to second on an error charged to Hill in left field. A two-out infield single on a bang-bang play at first kept the inning alive before Andre Nnebe punched an RBI-single into center to break up LMU's bid for a fourth shutout win.

LMU will return to action at home on Monday when it sends right-hander Guiseppe Benedetti to the mound against Washington at 6 p.m.