MORAGA, CALIF. – On Friday, May 10th, the Saint Mary's baseball team kicked off their final home conference series against University of the Pacific with senior ace
Derik Eaquinto taking the hill for game one. Fresh off of a 7-inning performance against Pepperdine a week prior, Eaquinto would come out dialed in and no-hit the Tigers through four innings.
During that stretch, the Gaels would jump on the Tigers starter right away in the first with back-to-back singles to start the game. A 1-out double down the left field line from
Ryan Pierce would get Saint Mary's on the board with senior outfielder
Dalton Mashore coming around to score. With runners on second and third,
Brian Duroff would come to the plate and rip a ball up the middle into center field. A slight bobble from the Pacific outfielder would allow Pierce and
Coleman Schmidt to score and cap off a 3-run first inning.
After back-to-back scoreless frames from the Tigers starter, the Gales would add some insurance runs and break the game open with a 3-run bomb to left field from Schmidt for his 10th of the season. The Pacific starter would plunk the leadoff man and then get an unfortunate error on a throw to second base to put the first two runners on. Head coach
Eric Valenzuela would play some small ball and have Mashore lay down a bunt to move the runners to second and third with just one out. Up would come Schmidt who got down 0-2 but sat on a mistake pitch and made the pitcher pay with a no-doubter to left field. The Gaels would double their lead and get some more solid pitching to earn their 31st victory of the season.
Eaquinto would get the ball again for the seventh and after a leadoff walk and a 1-out single, he would induce a pair of pop-ups to trusty second baseman
Gavin Napier to end the Tigers threat. He finished his day with seven scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out five batters, his fourth start of the season with at least seven innings of work.
In to pitch the final two innings was senior right hander
Ryan Wiltse who made his team leading 20th appearance of the season. Wiltse would battle in an 8-pitch leadoff at-bat but allow the walk and out from the dugout would come Valenzuela to calm his pitcher down and get him back on track. Wiltse would get back on the hill and do just that and record back-to-back punchouts and then a fly ball out to center to end the Pacific threat. He would get another strikeout in the ninth and retire the Tigers in order, helping extend the Gaels win streak to six games and keeping them in the league title race with San Diego.
Schmidt had the big hit of the day for the Gaels, finishing 2-4 from the plate and responsible for four of the team's six runs on the day. Duroff added a pair of hits of his own and also had two RBI's with his single back in the first. Eaquinto and Wiltse combined for nine scoreless innings, allowing just two hits from the Tigers. The Gaels pitching staff has allowed just three runs or fewer in four of their last five games.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's improves to 31-16 overall and 14-5 in WCC play as their win streak extends to six games after their 6-0 victory over the Tigers. They will resume the three game series with Pacific on Saturday, May 11th at 1:00 PM. Tickets can be online at smcgaels.com and you can stream the game live on ESPN+. Be sure to follow your Gaels on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get all the latest Saint Mary's athletics updates and information.
