MORAGA, Calif. — On a blustery day at Saint Mary's College, the Gaels began their final West Coast Conference series of the year, taking on the LMU Lions. Friday's game was one of the biggest rollercoaster rides of the season, with the Gaels leading by three runs on multiple occasions in the game, only to give up the lead late and fall to the Lions by the final score of 9-7. With the win, LMU improves to 17-27 (10-12) while the Gaels drop to 22-23 (10-15).
 
THE FIRST UP
Saint Mary's got the rollercoaster started in the bottom of the first inning by plating two runs thanks to a Christopher Campos two-out single to right field. The Gaels were taking advantage of walks early in the game, where two walks extended the inning and loaded the bases for Campos to do damage in his first at bat in over a month. In the bottom of the second, Austin Elder opened up the inning with a ringing double to right field before scoring on a Jacob Talamante bloop single down the right field line, giving the Gaels an early 3-0 lead.
 
THE FIRST DOWN
LMU responded well with runs in the next three innings, chipping away at the deficit before taking the lead on one swing of the bat. Despite not getting a hit against Gaels starter Ryan Taurek until the fourth, they too took advantage of walks that came with two outs, first with Dylan Dennis doubling to left center after a two-out walk in the fourth to make it 3-2. Then in the fifth, a two-out single on the infield allowed Julian Bury to hit, and he buried a pitch into deep right field for his second home run of the year, putting LMU up 4-3 in the fifth.
 
THE SECOND UP
The score held up at 4-3 until the bottom of the seventh inning, when Saint Mary's received a massive break from the Lions. With two outs, Kyle Velazquez singled and then it appeared Justin Banks bounced out to second to end the inning. Catcher's interference was called, putting Banks on first and Velazquez on second to extend the inning. Blake Mann and Coleman Schmidt then walked, bringing home the tying run and setting up Campos with the bases loaded. He emptied them with a line drive to right field to put Saint Mary's up 7-4. For Campos, it gave him five RBIs on the game, a new career-best, and tied the most for a Gael this season.
 
THE SECOND DOWN
Unfortunately, the Gaels bullpen which has been great this season did not have their best stuff in the last two innings. The Lions scored three times off of Liam Steigerwald in the eighth inning to tie the game, after allowing just three earned runs all season. Michael Hobbs was summoned to keep it at a 7-6 Gaels lead with a runner on, but an error with two outs in the inning plated the game-tying run, and then a triple to right field put LMU in front 8-7. After adding another run against Hobbs in the ninth inning, the first earned run against Hobbs in conference play, the Lions held on for the win.
 
UP NEXT
Game two of the series will get underway at 1:00 pm on Saturday as Saint Mary's will look to get back even on a day in the week they play well on. Saint Mary's is 10-6 on Saturday games this season, their best record on any day of the week in 2021. The series concludes on Sunday with Senior Day at 1:00 pm.