LOS ANGELES - LMU Baseball fell just short in a tightly contested series opener against Gonzaga, 5-4, on Friday evening at Page Stadium. The Lions outhit the Bulldogs 11-10 but were held scoreless over the final six innings as the visitors held on to take game one of the West Coast Conference matchup. 

Zion Williams led the Lions (23-23, 10-9 WCC) at the plate, going 4-for-5 with two doubles and a stolen base. Devan Ornelas added two hits, an RBI, and a run scored, while Colby Wallace chipped in two hits, an RBI, and two stolen bases.

LMU took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning on a sacrifice fly from Joe Reid, scoring Williams after his leadoff double. The Bulldogs (21-21, 12-4 WCC) answered with a four-run top of the third, capitalizing on a walk, two singles, and a balk to take a 4-1 lead. The Lions responded quickly in the bottom half, scoring three runs to tie the game. Ornelas drove in one with an RBI single and later scored on a wild pitch. Wallace's RBI base hit plated Ornelas to even the score at 4-4. 

Gonzaga reclaimed the lead in the sixth inning on an RBI single from Sam Stem, and their bullpen took over from there. Finbar O'Brien (5-0) earned the win after striking out 11 over 5.1 innings despite allowing four runs (three earned). Erik Hoffberg recorded the final four outs to earn his fifth save of the season.

Adam Behrens (3-2) took the loss for LMU in relief. Kenji Pallares made the start, allowing four runs across 4.1 innings while striking out three. 

The Lions will look to even the series in game two on Saturday afternoon.