LOS ANGELES – For the second consecutive night, the Lions late inning rally fell just short as LMU fell to Saint Louis 10-8 at Page Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Lions got a gritty start out of senior right hander Michael Nunez. Nunez went five innings, giving up four runs on six hits while walking one and striking out five. He struck out the side in order in the fourth.
Just like Friday night, the Lions fell behind early and tried to climb back in, but every time they pulled close, the Billikens would add a run or two to keep the Lions at bay.
Saint Louis took the lead on a solo homerun in the first inning.
The Lions tied the game up in the bottom of the second inning, courtesy of some timely two-out hitting from
Noah Malone.
Robbie Ayers reached safely after battling back from an 0-2 count and working. He advanced to second on a ground ball to third and scored when Malone bounced a ball through the left side of the infield.
The Billikens would go on to score three in the third.
LMU would counter with a pair in the bottom half.
Luca Danos reached with one out on an error by the shortstop. He would move to second after Cam Hassert was hit by a pitch. Danos would score easily on Beau Ankeney's RBI single up the middle and Hassert would score easily when DJ Ghiorso followed with an RBI single of his own. Ghiorso and Ankeney are tied for the team lead with 12 RBIs apiece.
The Billikens would then add two more in the sixth, matched in the bottom half of the inning by the Lions.
Ankeney singled and advanced to second when Ghiorso walked. Ayers would step up after the pitching change and lace a ball into right field to score Ankeney. Zion Williams followed Ayers with an RBI single of his own to score Ghiorso and bring the Lions within a run.
Saint Louis would add one in the seventh, which the Lions would match in the eighth.
Ghiorso led off the inning with a single into right center field. He would eventually come into score on Kolton Freeman's pinch hit double down the left field line and bring LMU back within a run.
Saint Louis would get three in the top of the ninth to seemingly put the game out of reach, but the Lions would not go away in the bottom half.
Devan Ornelas led off the inning with a double that was lost in the lights by both the shortstop and the center fielder. Hassert laced a triple down the right field line to score Ornelas easily and put the pressure on. He would score easily on a wild pitch. Ghiorso walked and Ayers singled through the left side to bring the winning run to the plate in Williams, but he struck out to end the game.
The Lions and Billikens wrap up the three-game set on Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. (PT). Tickets are available on LMULions.com and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
