The Loyola Marymount Lions trailed by two runs heading into the bottom of the sixth and rallied for three, which would be all the scoring they needed behind Josh Agnew's strong performance to take Friday afternoon's game against Saint Mary's 3-2.
 
The Lions turned to Agnew for the starting assignment and he gave head coach Jason Gill 6.0 innings of work, conceding two runs and one walk while striking out two against 24 Saint Mary's batters.
 
LMU trailed right from the onset as a miscue by Lions center fielder Dylan Hirsch allowed the Gaels Joe Vranesh to advance to second on his single. With a runner in scoring position for Saint Mary's Kevin Milam singled to left center giving the Gaels a one run lead.
 
Both teams went scoreless going into the top of the fifth when Saint Mary's pushed another run across increasing their lead over the Lions to 2-0.
 
Heading into the bottom of the sixth the Lions put together a three-run rally to seize the lead from the Gaels. After a Kenny Oyama fly out to center, Brandon Shearer walked and got to third base via a passed ball and wild pitch from Saint Mary's Ken Waldichuk. 
 
Trevin Esquerra was next up to bat and he promptly singled through the left side bringing in Shearer for the Lions first run. After a Tommy Delgado single to right, Steven Chavez sent a shot to left field for an RBI single knotting the game at two apiece.
 
With the score tied at two LMU's Alex Lambeau was in a battle with the Gaels Michael Hobbs and came through with a sacrifice fly to center field. Delgado scored on the play and pushed the Lions in front of Saint Mary's 3-2.
 
Agnew gave way to Nick Frasso in the top of the seventh and the sophomore produced for his seventh save of the season. 
 
The Lions had opportunities to blow the game open the bottom halves of the seventh and eighth, loading the bases in each frame but a triple play and double play ended both rallies for LMU.
 
Frasso retired the first seven batters he saw before giving up a single in the top half of the ninth to the Gaels. He was able to get the next batter out on strikes but surrendered a walk, putting two men on before JC Santini lined out to Esquerra preserving the Lions victory.
 
The Lions now take on the winner of Gonzaga and Saint Mary's tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m. with an opportunity to take the WCC's automatic bid for the NCAA regionals.