BSB | Five-Game Win Streak on the Line, Saint Mary’s Hosts LMU in WCC Action

Saint Mary’s Men’s Baseball vs San Diego
Photos by Tod Fierner

#5 Diego Castellanos: .333 BA, .428 OB%, 45 H, 9 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 24 RBI

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

BSB | Five-Game Win Streak on the Line, Saint Mary’s Hosts LMU in WCC Action

4/24/2025 12:34:00 PM | Baseball

MORAGA, Calif. - After a crucial series sweep against Pepperdine, Saint Mary's will resume conference action in a home series against LMU starting on Friday, April 25th. The Gaels played their way back into the top-six in the WCC standings after their first road sweep over the Waves in 54 years and now control their own destiny with four conference series remaining.

Saint Mary's enters the weekend series on a five-game win streak after their 10-4 road win over Cal on Tuesday representing the second longest active winning streak in the conference behind San Diego who is riding a nine-game win streak. A series sweep would match their longest win streak since the 2024 season when they won eight in a row to start the month of May. Game one kicks off on Friday, April 25th at 3:00 PM and the entire series can be streamed on ESPN+.

GAME COVERAGE

BSB | Saint Mary's vs. LMU | Br. Ronald Gallagher Stadium
Moraga, Calif. | April 25-27 | 3/1/1 PM
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Tickets

GAELS OUTLOOK

Three Starts Three Wins…

For the first time this season, Saint Mary's three starters for their weekend series against Pepperdine all came away with the win on the mound as the Gaels completed the series sweep over the Waves. Things got started on Thursday with a stellar 6.2 inning performance from freshman Lukas Sarantos. Sarantos had made eight appearances prior to Thursday's start all out of the bullpen, but made his first collegiate start in the series opener and picked up his first collegiate win.

Friday, Donovan Chriss bounced back with 5.1 innings of work to earn his team leading third win of the season. Chriss failed to record an out in arguably his worst career start last week against San Diego, but struck out six batters and gave up just one run in his start against the Waves.

Lastly, sophomore John Damozonio made just his second start of the season after a quality outing against the Toreros the week prior. Damozonio allowed just two earned runs in 5.1 innings for his third win of the season, tying Chriss for the team lead.

Best Bullpen Performance of the Season…

After three innings from freshman Sean Cannon in his second career start against Cal on Tuesday, head coach Eric Valenzuela went to the bullpen with a plan to throw seven arms for seven innings. As a result, the Gaels bullpen went on to allow just one run off three hits over the final seven innings for their best performance of the season.

Senior lefty Dylan Delvecchio got credit for his third win of the season after completing the fifth inning, working around a leadoff walk. Freshman Sam Kretsch followed with a flawless inning, recording two strikeouts in just eleven pitches. Elliott Joslin worked around a bases loaded jam in the seventh, recording a pair of fly outs and then striking out the final batter of the inning to just allow a run.

Daniel Guevara Castro and Talin Gardini polished off the final two innings, combining for one hit, one walk, three strikeouts and zero runs allowed. The Gaels pitched to contact, got ahead of batters and also recorded their 17th error-free game of the season.

Gaels Match Season Long Win Streak at Five Games…

After a perfect 4-0 week with wins over San Jose State and Pepperdine, Saint Mary's got revenge over Cal with a 10-4 road victory to match their season long win streak of five games. They have also inched above .500 for the first time since March 23rd and now sit at 20-19 overall.

The Gaels are playing some of their most complete baseball all season long featuring timely hitting, quality starts and great relief appearances. Pitching has been a struggle for the bulk of this season but as a team, Saint Mary's has allowed just 4.8 runs per game and have outscored their opponents 43-24 during their five-game win streak.

Freshmen standouts during the win streak have included Lukas Sarantos and Sean Cannon. Sarantos recorded his first career win against Pepperdine while Cannon has started the team's last two midweek games combining for seven innings pitched, eight hits, four runs and four strikeouts. Eddie Madrigal reached double-digit home runs against Pepperdine and leads the team with 41 RBI.

Series History…

Over their last two series dating back to 2023, Saint Mary's is 3-3 against LMU, taking two of three last season but dropping two games in 2023. The Gaels would see the Lions again in Las Vegas in the WCC Tournament that season where they won 4-1 to bounce LMU from postseason play.

Prior to that LMU has dominated the series history with a 36-18 record dating back to 2007. LMU is off to a nice start this season with a 9-6 conference record, sitting in a tie for third place with Portland while Saint Mary's is 5-7 in fifth place.

ABOUT THE LIONS (WCC)

LMU enters the week at 22-19 and 9-6 in WCC play, sitting in a tie for third along with Portland. The Lions got off to a great start, starting the season 5-1 with a sweep over Seattle and wins over Tulane and Long Beach. They opened conference play against San Diego and Portland and took two games over the 2024 WCC Champion Toreros. They then dropped two of three against the Pilots to start 3-3.

LMU continued to stumble as they lost another series, dropping two games to Pacific to fall to 4-5. They turned things around though with a big sweep over San Francisco and then took two games over Santa Clara last week to jump into a tie for third. LMU ranks as the top hitting and pitching team in the WCC with a .285 batting average and a 5.65 team ERA. They also lead the league with 89 stolen bases but have some flaws with a conference high 57 errors and 231 walks given up by their pitching staff.

Statistically, Beau Ankeney has started all 41 games at first base for LMU and leads the team with a .351 batting average and 12 homers. Cam Hassert has also started in 40 games primarily as a middle infielder for the Lions and has a .344 average out of the leadoff spot. His 14 stolen bases is also tied for the team lead. The Lions have five pitchers with three wins on the season and also own one of the best bullpens in the WCC. Cole Stucky, Zack Mack, Gabe Maya and Zach Bender all have at least 13 appearances and a sub 4.00 ERA.

Saint Mary's will need to play clean defense and keep the ball in the ballpark this weekend in hopes of winning their second consecutive conference series. Freshman right hander Lukas Sarantos will get the ball for game one of the series as Valenzuela will go with the same weekend rotation for the second series in a row.

SPECIAL PROMOTION

Saint Mary's is also honoring program great Corbin Burnes this weekend with a limited edition t-shirt giveaway. Shirts will be handed out throughout the series to attending fans while supplies last. All games can be streamed live on ESPN+ and tickets can be bought online at smcgaels.com/tickets.