LOS ANGELES — Alec Johnson held UC Riverside hitless through five innings, Andrew Mhoon crushed a solo home run in the sixth, and Matt Moreno delivered in the clutch at the plate and in the field as LMU defeated the Highlanders 4-2 Tuesday night at Page Stadium.

Johnson was dominant from the jump, working into and out of trouble in the first inning when a Richie Klosek error in right field allowed a runner to reach with two outs before Ty Walton lined out to end the threat. From there Johnson was untouchable, retiring batter after batter until UCR didn't pick up its first hit until Tyler Bolyar singled up the middle to open the sixth. Johnson finished with six innings of work and no earned runs allowed, overcoming a two-run sixth in which a pair of unearned tallies crossed on errors before stranding the bases loaded by inducing Esteban Sepulveda to ground out to short. Moreno fielded the chopper up the middle and fired to first just in time to end the inning, with the call standing after a replay review. Johnson punched out six UC Riverside hitters and did not issue a walk. 

LMU wasted no time getting on the board. With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the first, Moreno, thrust into the starting shortstop role this weekend, came through with an RBI single to left-center, plating Mhoon to give the Lions a 1-0 lead. The rally had been set up by an Mhoon hit by pitch, a Zach Wadas single to center and a Travis Friend single to left.

The Lions added two more in the third. Klosek singled and advanced to third on a wild pitch, and JD Dunn drove him in with a single to second base to make it 2-0. Dunn then stole second, and when Cooper Whitton singled to third, Dunn never stopped running, scoring on the throw to push the lead to 3-0.

UC Riverside finally broke through in the top of the sixth, scoring twice on a pair of LMU errors to cut the deficit to one. But Mhoon answered immediately in the bottom half, stepping in with two outs and lashing a no-doubt solo shot over the blue monster in left field off reliever Danny Hernandez. It was Mhoon's fourth home run of the season and restored the Lions' two-run cushion at 4-2.

Zach Bender came on for the seventh and worked a clean inning despite issuing a walk and a balk that moved a runner into scoring position, retiring the final two batters to escape unscathed.

Max Schneider then took over and earned his first career save, though not without some adventure. He issued back-to-back walks and a hit batter and balked a pair of runners into scoring position in the eighth before striking out the side to strand two. In the ninth, consecutive walks put runners on first and second with no outs, but a bunt groundout and then a clutch Moreno defensive play ended it. Moreno snagged a liner off the bat of Isaiah Hernandez and spun to double the runner off second base, ending the game.

The Lions head to Spokane, Wash. to face Gonzaga in the upcoming weekend series. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. (PT).