The Loyola Marymount Lions (3-2) took everything the Saint Louis Billikens (2-3) had and found a way to grind out a tough 3-1 victory on Friday night to take the first game of the weekend series.
 
Senior Codie Paiva (1-1) was sharp for the Lions putting in a commanding performance and keeping the Billikens guessing all night. He had a season-high eight strike outs for LMU barely missing his career high of nine which he set against San Francisco on April 13, 2018. Along with putting all those K's on the board, he scattered six hits in 5.2 innings worth of work against Saint Louis.
 
The Lions got to Saint Louis starter Codie Luther early in the game by putting two runs on the board, taking advantage of singles by Nick Sogard and Cooper Uhl. With both Lions on base, hot hitting Brandon Shearer singled to right field bringing in Sogard. Uhl, showed off the speed as he scored from third on a wild pitch from Luther brining the scoring to a close for LMU in their bottom half of the first.
 
From that point on both Paiva and Luther settled into a grove and the game turned into a pitching duel. The Billikens threatened to score in the top half of the sixth when they put two runners on but sophomore Nick Frasso got the Billikens catcher Ryan Hernandez to strike out swinging putting an end to the threat.
 
Saint Louis got on the board in the eighth when Jake Garella doubled in Ben Livorsi cutting the Lions' lead in half. LMU got the insurance run it needed in the bottom of the eighth when Alex Lambeau singled past the shortstop, eventually scoring on a throwing error by Hernandez pushing the lead to 3-1.
 
 The door officially closed on the Billikens when Frasso got them out 1,2,3 picking up the save and securing the victory for LMU.
 
The Lions and Billikens are back at Page Stadium tomorrow night for the second game of the three-game series with first pitch slotted for 6 p.m.