The Loyola Marymount Lions (6-7) were able to put runners on base throughout the night but couldn't manufacture any runs and dropped the first matchup of the weekend series 5-0 to Louisiana Lafayette.
 
The Lions jumped right out the gate in the first when Nick Sogard took the second pitch he saw and singled past Hunter Kasuls at second base. Sogard wasn't satisfied with his single as his aggressive play on the bases netted steals of both second and third. LMU however couldn't bring him home after junior Trevin Esquerra struck out swinging for the third out and ended the Lions half of the first.
 
Senior Codie Paiva got the Friday night start for head coach Jason Gill's team and gave him his longest outing of the season. Paiva went 6.0 innings, allowing eight hits, five runs, three of them earned, striking out five on 91 pitches. 
 
In the second inning Paiva was able to get Louisiana's Orynn Veillon and Hayden Cantrelle out but a walk and fielding error put runners on base for the Ragin Cajuns. With two men on Jonathan Windham doubled to left field and an unusual bounce over left fielder Kenny Oyama's head allowed Todd Lott to score from first putting two runs on the board for Louisiana. 
 
Louisiana was able to add to their lead in the third and fourth innings, first on a Brennan Breaux home run and then on a sacrifice fly by Lott.  
 
The Lions were aggressive whenever they got on base but Louisiana was able to put a stop to the running game by throwing out would be base stealers in the third, fourth and fifth innings. 
 
In the fifth inning LMU had a scoring threat after getting singles from Alex Lambeau and Dylan Hirsch. The aggressive baserunning however cost the Lions as Lambeau was caught stealing third and Oyama struck out ending the threat and inning for LMU.
 
The Lions were unable to solve Louisiana's pitching as the game went on and the Ragin Cajuns got the final 12 outs of the game, facing 13 batters holding LMU scoreless for only their third shut-out of the season.
 
LMU and Louisiana Lafayette resume the series tomorrow afternoon at Russo Park with first pitch slated for 12:00 p.m. PT.