MORAGA, Calif. - Saint Mary's dropped a heart breaker Saturday afternoon as LMU came storming back with two home runs in the ninth inning to take a 6-4 lead, their first lead of the series.
Eddie Madrigal continued to swing a hot bat as he connected for a solo shot in the bottom half of the ninth to cut it to one but Lions reliever Zack Mack picked up his fourth save of the season with a ground ball double play to clear the bases and then a ground out to second to even the series at one game a piece.
The Gaels out-hit the Lions 14-9 but a three-run shot from LMU's Beau Ankeney gave them a 5-4 lead in the ninth. Two batters later Robbie Ayers homered for the fifth time this year to give the Lions some much needed insurance as Madrigal ended up homering in the ninth to cut it to a run.
Garret Plata would get credit for his first loss of the season as starter
Donovan Chriss went five innings allowing just two runs for the no-decision. Saint Mary's homered three times for just the second time this season thanks to
Jared Mettam,
Ian Armstrong and
Eddie Madrigal.
The Gaels will look for the crucial series victory Sunday afternoon with first pitch slated for 1:00 PM on ESPN+.
HOW IT HAPPENED...
1ST INNING
Saint Mary's took the early lead once again in game two thanks to a two-out RBI single from
Ryan Pierce.
Eddie Madrigal has been a problem for opposing pitchers since being moved to the leadoff spot as he singled to right field to start the inning. He would find his way to third after a sacrifice bunt from
Cody Kashimoto and then a ground out from
Aiden Taurek, allowing Pierce to cash in with his 32nd RBI of the season.
4TH INNING
After giving the run back in the top of the second, junior transfer
Donovan Chriss would settle in and put up clean frames in the third and fourth along with a pair of strikeouts. The big bats would come to play in the bottom of the fourth inning as Saint Mary's recorded back-to-back home runs off the bats of
Jared Mettam and
Ian Armstrong to give the Gaels a 3-1 lead. Mettam smashed a no doubter to left field for his third of the season while Armstrong went to the opposite field for his fourth.
Chriss would allow one more run in the fifth but worked around two leadoff hits and a hit batter to limit the damage for LMU. Chriss finished his day with five innings, six hits, two runs and three strikeouts.
9TH INNING
Junior
Garret Plata came out of the bullpen to replace Chriss and was perfect through three innings as he did not allow a baserunner. Saint Mary's took a 4-2 lead into the ninth inning and Plata kept the ball looking for the four-inning save.
Plata gave up a leadoff single to start the inning but got a big punch out the next at-bat for the first out of the inning. The runner on first would move over to second on a wild pitch the next at-bat but Plata would end up plunking leadoff hitter Cam Hassert to put runners on first and second.
Eric Valenzuela would come out for a visit but end up leaving Plata in the game to face Ankeney.
On the very first pitch he saw, Ankeney would blast a ball down the left field line for a three-run homer, his 13th of the year tying the conference lead with fellow first baseman
Eddie Madrigal. In the blink of an eye the Gaels were down 5-4 and the lead would grow with a solo shot from Robbie Ayers two batters later to give LMU a two-run lead.
Saint Mary's showed no quit though as they had the top of their lineup due up to start the bottom half of the ninth.
Eddie Madrigal got the crowd on their feet with a no-doubt shot to right field for his 13th homer of the season, also on the first pitch he saw.
Cody Kashimoto would keep the rally going with a single up the middle and still no outs for LMU reliever Zack Mack. Despite the rally from the Gaels, Mack has been one of the best arms out of the pen for LMU all season long coming into this game with a 3.11 ERA in his 18 appearances. Mack would show some of that skill the very next at-bat, inducing a 4-6 double play off the bat of
Aiden Taurek. He would then get
Ryan Pierce to ground out to second to end the game and seal the 6-5 comeback victory.
Jacob Hughes would go down as the pitcher of record to earn the win while Mack recorded his team leading fourth save of the season. Madrigal was stellar again for the Gaels, pushing his hitting streak to eight games with three hits in today's ballgame.
Aiden Taurek also had another multi-hit game and freshman catcher
Ian Armstrong had a career high three hits including his fourth home run back in the fourth inning.
Despite the late-game comeback from LMU, Saint Mary's continues to play complete team baseball as of late and will have a chance for another massive series win Sunday afternoon.
LOOKING AHEAD
LMU snapped Saint Mary's six-game win streak as the Gaels fell to 21-20 overall and 6-8 in conference play. The rubber match of the three-game series will take place Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM. Catch all the action live on ESPN+ and get your tickets online at smcgaels.com/tickets.
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