Baseball Falls to Pacific 3-2 in Series Opener

Saturday, February 28

Stockton, CA

1:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

at Pacific

Baseball Falls to Pacific 3-2 in Series Opener

2/28/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Feb. 28, 2004

Box Score

Stockton, CA - In the opening game of a three-game series between the Saint Mary's baseball team and the Pacific Tigers on Saturday, Pacific defeated Saint Mary's 3-2. The Tigers moved to 6-4 on the season with the win, while Saint Mary?s dropped to 3-10 overall suffering its fifth consecutive loss.

In the bottom of the first inning, the Pacific offense jumped out of the gate with back-to-back singles by seniors Evan Bishop and Octavio Amezquita to put runners at first and second base with no outs. Junior Jesse Kovacs then loaded the bases with a perfect bunt single down the third baseline. Junior Jordan Seiber and senior Aaron Harper followed with run scoring ground ball outs to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead after one inning.

The Gaels, however, matched the Tigers level of play by scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth inning to tie the game up at 2-2.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the eighth inning, when Seiber led off the Tigers half the eighth inning with a walk. Seiber moved to second when Harper was hit a pitch, then junior Brandon Gottier laid down a sacrifice bunt along the first base line to put Seiber and Harper in scoring position at second and third. The next batter, freshman Mark McLaughlin, lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Seiber with the game-winning run.

Junior Josh Schmidt struck out the side in the ninth to collect the win and move to 2-0 on the season. Schmidt entered the game in the eighth inning as Saint Mary?s had runners at first and second and only one out, but Schmidt struck out J.P. Musgrove and Preston Young to end the Gaels threat. Schmidt finished the game with a career-high five strikeouts, as he sent five of the six batters he faced back to the bench.

Alex Graham, scattered 10 hits in 7.1 innings, allowing only two runs in the no decision. Graham tied a career-high with seven strikeouts on the day.

Saint Mary's starter Bryan Oland also received a no decision as he allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings. Justin Sloan (0-1) suffered the loss for the Gaels as he allowed one run without giving up a hit, by walking two batters and hitting another.

The Tigers and Gaels will be back in action tomorrow, Sunday, February 29 as the two teams face off in a doubleheader to conclude the three game series. The first game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.