BSB | Bats Awaken As Gaels Win Opener At LMU
5/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
LOS ANGELES — The Saint Mary's baseball team broke out their bats Friday to win the opener of an important West Coast Conference series that carries postseason implications, as the Gaels moved back into first place in the WCC with an 8-3 victory over fourth-place Loyola Marymount at George C. Page Stadium.
The win gave Saint Mary's (25-18, 13-6 WCC) sole possession of first place in the WCC by 1/2 game after BYU lost at Pepperdine earlier Friday. SMC stayed unbeaten on Fridays (11-0) and undefeated in series openers this season (9-0). The Gaels are also now 12-0 when junior right-hander Corbin Burnes starts on the mound.
Great team performance all the way around," said Saint Mary's head coach Eric Valenzuela. "I'm proud of this group in how they stuck together after a heartbreaking defeat Tuesday night (at Fresno State). Offensively we had lots of good (at-bats) and forced their guy to throw strikes. Also proud of Ian McLoughlin and his two-strike home run."
The Gaels broke their stretch of nine games without a home run with two Friday. Anthony Gonsolin became the fourth member of the Gaels with five home runs this season when he hit a solo shot to lead off the top of the second and give SMC a 1-0 lead. Ian McLoughlin hit his second career home run and second this season – a three-run shot over the right field wall – in the fourth inning to put the Gaels well ahead at 5-0.
Brett Rasso reached base four times and scored three runs for SMC with an RBI double and three walks. Nate Nolan went 2 for 5 with an RBI double, and Edward Haus drove in two runs with two sacrifice flies.
Burnes (8-0) tied his season-high with nine strikeouts in six innings of work. He allowed just one run on a wild pitch in the fourth and limited LMU (24-22, 12-10 WCC) to four hits. The Lions were 0 for 8 against Burnes hitting with runners in scoring position, as Burnes stranded five LMU runners in scoring position.
LMU did a good job against Corbin with his pitch count but yet again he was able to battle through it and give us a chance to win," said Valenzuela. "Great team win today against a very good team."
Burnes accomplished a rare feat in the first inning when he struck out four batters in one inning. He got the first two LMU batters of the game to strike out swinging, and got the third Lions batter to do so as well, but a wild pitch on the third strike allowed LMU's Austin Miller to reach base safely. Burnes then struck out Cassidy Brown swinging to end the inning.
The Lions finally got to the Gaels' bullpen after Burnes exited, getting four free passes (three walks, one hit-by-pitch) and two hits over the final three innings to make the game interesting. But they also stranded four runners in that time, only scoring two runs in the seventh on a fielder's choice and an infield single despite sending 15 total batters to the plate in the last three innings.
The series continues at 6 p.m. Saturday. SMC left-hander Johnny York (4-5, 3.62 ERA) is scheduled to throw against LMU right-hander Cory Abbott (5-4, 3.39 ERA). The game will be streamed live on GaelVision.
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