The No. 3-seed Loyola Marymount Lions went toe-to-toe with No. 1 seed UCLA at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Saturday night and pushed the Bruins to the elimination bracket with a 3-2 victory and are one win away from reaching the super regionals for the first time in team history.
 
LMU (34-23) got out of the gates fast as they loaded the bases off Bruins starter Jack Ralston in the bottom of the first. 
 
With the bags full Trevin Esquerra sent a fly ball to left field bringing in Nick Sogard who started the inning with a single up the middle. The Lions weren't able to take advantage the rest of the inning as both Steven Chavez and Alex Lambeau struck out but left the frame with a 1-0 lead.
 
The Bruins (48-9) answered promptly with a leadoff home run in the top of the second to tie the game at 1-1, but LMU starter Josh Agnew responded with getting the next two outs and pitched himself out a jam when he surrendered back-to-back singles getting the third out off a flyout to short.
 
"I just kept telling the guys, 'Weather the storm. Just have to weather it,'" said head coach Jason Gill. "They were playing hard; it wasn't for a lack of effort. Sometimes, that's the way the game treats you. It's now rewarding them for their resilience."
 
LMU had to show resilience after UCLA scratched a run across in the top of the third. Chase Strumpf's fly ball got lost in the lights falling behind Esquerra, resulting in a triple. With a man 90-feet away, the Bruins sent a sac fly to left field pushing UCLA ahead by one. 
 
The Lions offense produced the tying run in the bottom of the third as Esquerra doubled in a run after Brandon Shearer got aboard with a single that tripped up Ralston. 
 
With the score knotted at two Agnew settled into a groove, retiring ten of the next thirteen batters he faced.
 
Heading into the top half of the seventh Agnew conceded an inning opening single before getting Jeremy Ydens to strike out looking. After UCLA's Noah Cardenas singled to left Gill made the call to the bullpen ending the junior's night on the mound.
 
Agnew's first NCAA Regional saw him give the Lions 6.1 innings worth of work allowing seven hits and two runs while striking out six of 26 Bruin batters he faced on the night. 
 
"Pretty special performance by Josh [Agnew] and the defense behind him," said Gill. "He's a warrior and we believe he's one of the tougher guys out there. He's proven that to us time and time again, and he did it again tonight."

With one-man out CJ Fernandezees was called on by Gill and he was able to get Jarron Silva to groundout to first before loading the bases on a walk to Garrett Mitchell. With the bags full Fernandezess got Ryan Kreidler to fly out at the warning track in right field keeping the score knotted at two apiece.
 
LMU's seventh opened with an Ethan Patrick single up the middle. "We had a freshman [Ethan Patrick] step up there in, I think, what was his fourth at-bat. He hadn't looked very good yet. He leads off the inning with a single," said Gill. 
 
Patrick was pinch run for by Ryan Ruley who was sacrificed over by the bunt of Dylan Hirsch setting up Cooper Uhl, who provided the biggest RBI of the season to date for the Lions. Uhl drove in, what turned out to be the game-winning run, for the Lions with one out finding a hole in the right side with a low liner to score Ruley from second.
 
"Cooper [Uhl], who's a phenomenal catcher and doesn't get a lot of airtime for his offense, two weekends in a row comes up big for us with a giant hit to score that run. It just seems like a different hero every night," said Gill.
 
Heading into the top half of the eighth holding onto a one-run lead Fernandezees had issues with his control so Gill turned to Nick Frasso for the second time in as many nights and the sophomore answered the call. 
 
After surrendering a walk to the first batter he faced the Bruins Jake Pries laid down a sacrifice bunt putting two runners in scoring position with one out. 
 
"It's like he doesn't have a heartbeat. The fans are screaming and stuff, but in Nick's head, I don't know what he's singing. It isn't what everyone else is singing," said Gill.  
 
With the sold-out crowd on its feet Frasso got the next two Bruin batters to strike out on a total of nine pitches closing the door on UCLA's late-inning threat.
 
Heading into the top of the ninth Frasso retired the Bruins in order with a strike out, pop out and fly out giving the Lions their second-straight victory in the Regional.
 
LMU will take on the winner of UCLA and Baylor which is set for 12:00 p.m. on Sunday. The winner of that contest will face the Lions at 6:00 p.m.
 
NOTABLE:
 
The win over No. 1 UCLA was the first victory over a number one ranked team in head coach Jason Gill's tenure with the Lions. He was previously 0-2 against number one ranked teams, dropping a decision to the Bruins earlier this season and a contest to then number one ranked TCU in 2015.