LOS ANGELES – Benny Casillas said not to talk to him because he was locked in as he squeezed past the gate in the bottom of the tenth inning to get back into the dugout. He demonstrated what he meant by drilling a single through the right side of the infield for a 5-4 walkoff victory in the series opener against Saint Mary's on Friday night at Page Stadium.
The Lions had one tough inning but demonstrated that West Coast Conference baseball is a different breed with a come-from-behind victory against one of the teams that defeated them in the WCC Tournament a year ago.
Owen Hackman got the nod and was locked in from the first pitch. He struck out the first two batters he faced before issuing a walk to reigning WCC Player of the Year Christian Almanza. He struck out the Gaels' cleanup hitter looking on a wicked breaking ball. He then struck out the side in the second and the first two batters of the third inning before getting a flyout to end the frame. He punched out six in a row and eight of the first ten batters he faced.
Hackman ran into some trouble in the fourth inning, allowing a run-scoring single before a three-run homer squeaked over the glove of Sam Biller in right field.
He recovered and threw three more shutout innings while setting a career-high with twelve strikeouts.
The Lions did not fold and scratched their way back into the game.
Daalen Adderley lined a ball just over the fence in right field to open the scoring for the Lions. It was Adderley's fifth round tripper of the season and pulled some of the momentum back to the Lions.
LMU scored again in the seventh inning to cut the lead to two. Robbie Ayers singled before advancing to second when Casillas singled on a ground ball up the middle. The Gaels were close to ending the inning when second baseman Gavin Napier dove to knock the ball down, but Ayers slid safely into second. Ayers advanced to third on a wild pitch before
Diego Baqueiro recorded his first RBI of the evening with a liner to center field.
The loudest hit of the night belonged to Baqueiro as well. Casillas walked to lead off the bottom of the ninth with LMU down a pair. Baqueiro then launched a two-run homer well over the green monster and into the Westchester night on a 2-1 count. The homerun came in at 108 miles per hour and traveled an estimated 403 feet.
The game went into extra innings and LMU turned to NCAA appearances leader Ryan Mullan. Mullan worked through a mostly uneventful ninth, working around a walk with a pair of strikeouts.
Casillas's heroics took place in the bottom of the tenth.
Ayers once again got the rally started with a two-out, full count walk. Christian Dicochea laced a double down the left field line to put runners at second and third with two outs. Up stepped Casillas, who drilled a hard grounder past an outstretched Almanza. Casillas threw his hands up in celebration as Ayers scored easily from third and was mobbed by his teammates as he jetted towards second base.
The Lions ended a five-game losing streak in the conference and won back-to-back games for the first time since March 15 and March 16 against Dartmouth.
They look to get back in the win column in game two against the Gaels on Saturday, April 13 with first pitch moved to 6:05 p.m. (PT) because of incoming inclement weather.
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