MORAGA, Calif. - Saint Mary's continued to stay hot as they won their sixth game in a row for their longest win streak of the season. 6+ innings from freshman
Lukas Sarantos and a pair of home runs from
Eddie Madrigal helped the Gaels to an 8-3 series opening victory.
Sarantos made his second start of the season and pitched into the seventh inning for the second consecutive weekend. He picked up his second win with 6.1 innings of work and a career high six strikeouts. At the plate,
Eddie Madrigal recorded his first career multi-home run game which featured a grand slam in the sixth inning to break the game open. The Gaels pitching staff held the LMU hitters to just four hits and kept the top of their order quiet all afternoon long. The Lions first three hitters were a combined 0-for-11 in the game as Saint Mary's won their sixth straight and improved to 6-7 in conference play.
HOW IT HAPPENED...
1ST INNING
The gaels got going early with two runs in the first inning. After a one-out walk from
Cody Kashimoto,
Aiden Taurek would rifle a double to the right center gap to score Kashimoto all the way from first. Taurek took third on the throw home but recorded his team leading eleventh double of the season. Kashimoto also walked for the 26th time this season to lead the team and scored his 28th run of the year.
Taurek would come home and score to complete the two-run inning thanks to a sacrifice fly from
Ryan Pierce the very next at-bat. Pierce recorded his 31st RBI of the season, second most on the team.
4TH INNING
Sarantos cruised through the first inning allowing just one hit, but gave up a solo home-run to Nate Savoie to leadoff the fourth inning. After a one-out walk and a visit from head coach
Eric Valenzuela, Sarantos would go on to retire the next two batters to get out of the jam. He also helped himself out with a nice throw to second base to get the lead runner for the second out of the inning after a sacrifice bunt attempt from the LMU hitter.
The Gaels would get the run back in the bottom half of the fourth thanks to an RBI single from
Brian Duroff. Duroff did not see action in the team's last conference series against Pepperdine but got the start at the DH spot today and came through with his 13th RBI of the season, scoring Taurek from second base.
5TH INNING
Sarantos would put up another clean frame in the fifth and also record his sixth strikeout of the game for a new career high. His previous career high came in his first start last week against Pepperdine and he was able to surpass that mark again today in his second start of the season. Sarantos has been a blessing for the Gaels in that Friday starter position, combining for 12.2 innings pitched, eight hits, six runs, and eleven strikeouts over those two starts.
Madrigal helped cap off a nice fifth inning from Sarantos with his eleventh home run of the season in the bottom half of the inning. LMU's starter Kenji Pallares would retire the first two batters of the inning but not before Madrigal took his 2-1 pitch into the pine trees over the right field wall.
6TH INNING
After a one-two-three inning from Sarantos in the top half of the sixth, the Gaels would do some damage with a four-run inning thanks to a grand slam from
Eddie Madrigal. A two-out single from catcher
Ian Armstrong followed by a hit batter in
Tanner Griffith would help load the bases for Madrigal. Madrigal wasted absolutely no time and hit a skyscraper to right field that just crept over the wall for his 12th homer of the season.
Madrigal would record his first career multi-homer game and is now tied for the conference lead with 12 on the year.
8TH INNING
LMU would threaten in the eighth with a leadoff walk followed by a double down the right field line, putting runners on second and third with nobody out. Freshman
Sam Kretsch replaced Sarantos back in the seventh but found himself in a tough situation here in the eighth.
Kretsch would battle back one batter at a time and got off to a good start after inducing a fly out to shallow left field, not allowing the runner from third to tag up and score. Kretsch then recorded a gritty six-pitch strikeout for the second out of the inning. LMU's head coach Donegal Fergus would bring in a pinch hitter for the two-out scenario and call an offensive timeout, needing runs in this situation. The Lions hitter would put up another tough eight-pitch battle but Kretsch would get him to ground out to
Jared Mettam at short to end the inning and strand the two runners.
Daniel Guevara Castro would come in to finish off the ninth, recording a strikeout and two fly outs to end the game and seal the 8-3 victory. The Gaels have now won a season high six games in a row which stands as the second longest active win streak in the WCC behind San Diego.
Madrigal finished 2-for-5 with a career high five RBI, just the second player this season to record five RBI in a game. Madrigal also extended his current hitting streak to seven games to elad all active players.
Aiden Taurek led the team with three hits for his 12th multi-hit game of the season and also scored a pair of runs.
Jared Mettam also went 2-for-4 from the plate to raise his average to .274 on the season.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's pushes their win streak to a season high six games with their 8-3 win over LMU. Game two of the series is slated for 1:00 PM Saturday afternoon and can be streamed live on ESPN+. Tickets can als be bought online at smcgaels.com/tickets.
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