MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's baseball handed the Portland Pilots their first WCC loss of the season in a back-and-forth 6-4 win for the Gaels. The win puts SMC at 4-3 in conference play and Portland at 6-1.
 
Christian Almanza would drive in the go-ahead runs with a two-run shot to break a 4-4 tie in the seventh. Owen Cuffe pitched a very efficient top of the seventh to collect his first run of the season, getting around a two-out error.
 
It was the Pilots though that got scoring started early when Jake Holcroft led the game off with a solo home run into right field. But the Gaels bounced right back when Gavin Napier doubled to left field and Coleman Schmidt drove him in with two outs to even up the score at 1-1.
 
Holcroft struck again in the third inning when he drove one in for the Pilots with an RBI double. The Counter punch for Saint Mary's would once again come from Schmidt with a sacrifice fly to score Napier. The Gaels did not stop there in the bottom half of the third, as Bill Ralston would bring in Christian Almanza on an RBI double, giving the Gaels a 3-2 lead.
 
Portland fought back in the fifth inning putting up two runs of their own to reclaim the lead at 4-3, but the Gaels kept answering the bell, this time in the sixth inning.
 
Ralston doubled for the second time on the afternoon before Nick Mistone moved him over with a two-strike sacrifice bunt. That led to a successful sacrifice fly from Blake McDonald tying things at 4-4.
 
The Gaels delivered the knockout punch on Almanza's hit a towering two-run home run to right field that everyone in the ballpark knew was gone off the bat, giving the Gaels a 6-4 lead.
 
John Damozonio and the bullpen would hold the lead as Damozonio picked up a save with working around a pair of walks.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
The conference battle featured four ties and four lead changes. Gavin went 4 for 4 on the afternoon and scored three times.
 
UP NEXT
Game two of the series is set for 1:00 p.m. at Louis Guisto Field.