The Loyola Marymount University Lions baseball team (35-24, 15-12 WCC) open their 53^rdseason tomorrow night when the Washington Huskies pay a visit to George C. Page Stadium for an Opening Weekend three-game series. 
 
The Lions enter the 2020 season looking for a repeat visit to the NCAA Tournament where they defeated No. 1 UCLA and No. 24 Baylor before falling to the Bruins in the fifth and deciding game of the Los Angeles Regional.
 
The Lions and Huskies head into the weekend having faced each other seven times with Washington having a slight advantage in wins. The Huskies have some familiarity with the Lions as former assistant coach Ronnie Prettyman, who spent 2016-18 with LMU, now is an assistant with Washington.
 
LMU will be led by first-year head coach Nathan Choate, who was hired to be the eighth coach in program history after leading the Lions to the West Coast Conference Tournament Title last season. He spent last season as the pitching coach and helped produce the 2019 WCC Pitcher of the Year in Codie Paiva. Choate's pitching staff boasted the WCC's best ERA, allowing 3.50 earned runs per game, and also finished the year as the WCC's leader in WHIP at 1.24. The 7.88 hits per nine innings also ranked at the top of the conference.
 
Choate brings with him a new staff as former USC assistant Matt Curtis comes aboard along with former CSUN assistant Tony Asaro. Ryan Erickson, a former player at LMU, assumes the Volunteer Assistant Coach duties while Richie Escalara is Director of Baseball Operations.
 
LMU boasts 32 players on the 2020 roster, there are seven seniors, 10 juniors, eight sophomores and seven freshmen. The unit includes 16 returners and seven newcomers. The roster includes players from five different states. 28 are from California and one from Washington, Maryland, Oregon and Arizona.
 
The opening weekend three-game set at Page is the only one in February for the Lions as they don't host another three-game series until March 27th. The Lions play 16 of their first 23 games on the road.
 
The Lions were tabbed to finish third this year according to the 2020 WCC Preseason Baseball Coaches Poll, while Nick Frasso and Trevin Esquerra were named to the 2020 All-WCC Preseason Baseball Team. 
 
Frasso, a Second Team All-WCC selection in 2019, had an ERA of 2.22 to go with a pair of victories. He made 19 appearances, with five starts in 56.2 innings pitched while leading the Lions with 10 saves. Frasso was also recognized by the conference by being named to the WCC All-Tournament Team in 2019. The Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. native also paced the Lions in opposing team batting average at .154 and led LMU in games finished with 13.
 
Esquerra, also a Second Team All-WCC pick in 2019, hit a team-leading .322 while also pacing the Lions in numerous offensive categories including hits (75), homeruns (16), doubles (20), RBI (60) and slugging percentage (.622). Esquerra was also named to the ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I West All-Region Second Team last year. The native of San Diego, Calif. was crucial in WCC play, hitting .288 with 18 runs, 32 hits, five doubles, and eight homers. He was also the team leader in multi-hit games with 24 and multi-RBI games with 19.
 
LMU will hit the road for the first time next week when they travel to Jackie Robinson Stadium to play UCLA on Feb. 18 before returning to Page for another midweek game against CSU Bakersfield on Feb. 19. Following the game against Bakersfield the Lions travel to Sam Houston State for the first of five straight weekend road series.