MORAGA, Calif. — With the final West Coast Conference game of the season on tap, Saint Mary's Baseball delivered one of their most impressive wins of the year. Getting a lights-out start on the mound, and a continued impressive performance from their shortstop, the Gaels were able to hang on and beat the LMU Lions by a final score of 1-0 on Sunday, which stood as Senior Day for their 2021 class. Saint Mary's improves to 23-24 and finishes the WCC portion of play with a record of 11-16, while the Lions drop to 18-28 (11-13) with one conference series left.
 
COUNT ON KY
Making what could be his final home start of the 2021 season, Ky Bush was spectacular in front of a socially-distanced packed house of families and scouts. Bush set a new season-best with 7.1 innings tossed on Sunday, and also tied a career-best with 13 strikeouts, a mark that he has now set on two different occasions this year (April 18 vs. Santa Clara). The outing was impressive from start to finish, where he failed to allow a hit until the fourth inning, when the no-hitter was broken up by Alec Cargin on a bunt single. He walked two in the first inning, and ended his day with a walk, but struck out 13 batters in between. The Lions did not even put a ball in play until the last out of the third inning, 11 batters into the outing. Bush leads the WCC in strikeouts with 101 and becomes the seventh Gael all-time with 100+ strikeouts in single season.
 
COUNT ON CC
The only man who might make a case for stealing the spotlight from Bush was Christopher Campos, who capped off a stellar weekend with another phenomenal day at the plate and on the mound. In the first inning, he drove home the lone run of the game on a solid base hit into center with two outs, scoring Kyle Velazquez who had doubled with one out. That gave him eight RBIs on the weekend, the most in a series this year by a Gael. He later added another single and a double to his tally, capping off the weekend with a 7-10 mark at the plate, three doubles, and eight runs batted in. Not only was he great at the plate, but he pitched the final 1.1 innings to close it out for his fifth save of the season, securing the win on a strikeout with a man on first base.
 
SENIOR SENDOFF
The Gaels honored their seniors on Sunday by celebrating them with a pre-game ceremony. A good number of seniors saw time in the game on Sunday as well, including Ryan Novis, who has been battling a wrist injury but made his first start in nearly two months. Novis made a running catch in the right field corner to get out of the eighth inning, when the Lions were threatening with two runners on base. Justin Banks worked a walk and a single to extend his on-base streak to 19 games, and Jacob Talamante and Gabe Giosso also walked as part of the contributors on senior day.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's has one series left on the schedule for the 2021 season, a non-conference set with the Santa Clara Broncos. The four-game series begins on Friday afternoon at 3:00 pm at Louis Guisto Field as the Gaels host the Broncos, before the series shifts to Santa Clara for a doubleheader on Saturday, and one more game on Sunday. Friday's game will be the final home game of 2021 for Saint Mary's. All four games will be streamed on the WCC Network.