LOS ANGELES – Khadim Diaw homered and had three hits, Grant Weiss hit a game-tying pinch hit single in the eighth, Merrick Baldo stranded the tying and go-ahead runs on second and third and the Lions defeated San Diego 10-9 on Sunday afternoon in front of a playoff atmosphere at Page Stadium.  

 

With first place on the line, both teams got out to good starts with the bats. The Toreros put up a run in the first inning on Lions starter Owen Hackman.  

 

The Lions punched back right away, however.  

 

Diaw continued his hot play with a leadoff single before being bunted over to second by Sam Biller. Diaw advanced to third on a groundout and then came around to score when Diego Baqueiro laced a 1-1 pitch off the blue monster.  

 

The Lions added another run in the second inning. Devan Ornelas reached on a bunt single before being advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Cole Roberts. He advanced to third on a passed ball before scoring on a Benny Casillas sacrifice fly to deep center.  

 

LMU continued to add on in the third. The first two batters were retired before the Lions found some two-out success. Baqueiro singled up the middle before moving up to second when Connor Blough was hit by a pitch. Dylan Dennis walked to load the bases before the Toreros made a pitching change. Ornelas lined the first pitch he saw from the reliever over the shortstop's head for a pair of RBIs to give the Lions a 4-1 lead.  

 

USD battled right back with four of their own in the top of the fourth.  

 

With the score at 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth, the back-and-forth of the contest really picked up. Dennis walked to lead off the inning, advancing to third on an Ornelas single. Roberts followed with a safety squeeze in which Dennis maneuvered his body to avoid the tag and swipe the corner of the plate to tie the contest. Both runners moved up a base on a balk before Casillas and Biller notched RBI singles to give the Lions a 7-5 lead.  

 

The Toreros would come back with three runs of their own to retake the lead.  

 

Diaw's homerun in the seventh would tie the game up again and give the Lions confidence moving forward in the game. With two outs, Diaw blasted a first-pitch fastball over the left-center field wall for his seventh of the season and to tie the game at eight.  

 

The Toreros would answer right back with one in the top of the eighth to retake the lead again. 

 

The Lions were up to the challenge however, as Blough opened the bottom half of the inning with a double down the right field line. He would advance to third on a fly out from Dennis, followed by a walk to Ornelas to put runners on the corners. USD would make a pitching change to face the pinch-hitter Weiss, but Weiss was up to the task. After fouling off a couple of tough pitches, Weiss ripped a single between the shortstop and third baseman to tie the ballgame once again. Casillas would reach on a drag bunt a batter later before Biller forced in a run with a walk.  

 

Baldo went out for the ninth and walked the leadoff batter before striking out two in a row. After a two-base error to make for a dramatic ending, Baldo struck out Jack Gurevitch to end the proceedings and send the Lions faithful home happy.  

Owen Hackman got the start on the hill for the Lions, performing admirably and battling through five innings while allowing six runs and striking out three. Seamus Barrett relived Hackman in the sixth and threw two innings, giving up three and striking out three. Baldo notched the victory, getting the final five outs of the ballgame, including four by way of the strikeout.

 

With the victory, the Lions remain in first place in the WCC and will control their destiny going for the regular season crown and top seed in the WCC Tournament.  

 

The Lions are off until Monday, May 8th when they travel to Long Beach to face off with the Dirtbags. A quick turnaround sends them to Santa Barbara to face UCSB on Tuesday, May 9th before WCC play heats back up with a three-game set against the Waves in Malibu, Calif.