The Loyola Marymount Lions (15-9, 5-1 WCC) surrendered six runs in the first inning, fought back throughout the night to cut the lead to five but fell to UCLA 9-4 on Tuesday night.
 
The Lions welcomed the number one team in the country for only the second time in head coach Jason Gill's tenure to Page Stadium. The Lions previously hosted then #1 Texas Christian University in a losing effort on March 10, 2015.
 
Getting the starting nod from Gill was freshman Nate Madole and he went a third of an inning giving up five runs and three hits. Relieving Madole was Nick Valdez and the junior surrendered three hits and one run in his third of an inning. Closing out the top half of the first was Josh Robins who got Ryan Kreidler to pop up to first basemen Trevin Esquerra ending the inning.
 
LMU got on the board when Esquerra hit a towering shot over the right field wall off UCLA's Jesse Bergin in the home half of the fourth. The Lions followed up with two more runs in the bottom half of the fifth when Kenny Oyama hit a laser past the pitcher into center bringing in Cooper Uhl and Dylan Hirsch.  
 
The Lions used five total pitchers on the night with the trio of Robins, redshirt junior Kyle Mora and senior Rob Diaz getting the majority of the work. Robins went 2.2 innings, yielding three hits and two runs while striking out two. Mora provided the Lions with 3.2 innings of shutout baseball giving up two hits and striking out five. Diaz went 2.0 innings, giving up two hits and a run while striking out one.
 
LMU put together a rally in their half of the eighth when senior Brandon Shearer singled to right field setting the table for Tommy Delgado and the freshman delivered. He sent a Kyle Mora pitch to right center for a double plating Shearer and pushing the Lions total to four runs for the game. LMU couldn't get anything further as they were retired in order in the home half of the ninth, ending the game and the homestand.
 
The Lions ended their season long nine-game homestand with seven wins and two losses improving their record at Page to 11-4. LMU hits the road in seven of their next eight games with the first stop in Portland for a three-game weekend series as they head back into West Coast Conference play against the Pilots with first pitch for Friday night's game slated for 6:00 p.m.