STOCKTON, Calif. - Saint Mary's overcame a two-run hole after the second inning to score eight unanswered and take down Pacific 8-2 in game one. Freshman starter
Lukas Sarantos went five-plus innings for the third consecutive outing to pick up his third win of the season.
Ryan Pierce connected on his ninth homer of the year to put the Gaels ahead for good in the fifth inning. Junior reliever
Garret Plata came on in relief and pulled off the four inning save for his first of the season, allowing the Gaels to leave game one with just two pitchers used for the second time this season.
The Gaels were clean defensively and ran the bases incredibly well, tying their season high with six stolen bases. Saint Mary's has now won nine of their last ten games and reached the .500 mark in WCC play for the first time this season at 8-8.
3RD INNING
Freshman
Lukas Sarantos got his third consecutive start and responded really well after giving up two early runs in the second inning. He would get some run support the following inning as the Gaels answered with a pair of runs of their own to knot the game at two. Back-to-back singles from
Ian Armstrong and
Tanner Griffith would set the table for the top of the lineup. Griffith would get thrown out trying to steal second but the Gaels would get a runner back on first after
Eddie Madrigal took a ball off the foot to give him 90 feet.
Into the next at-bat, Madrigal would take off for second and get in a rundown while Armstrong was still on third. In the midst of the pickle the Pacific shortstop would throw the ball over their first baseman, allowing Armstrong to score and send Madrigal to third with one out.
Cody Kashimoto would come to the plate and ground out to short but with the infield back, Madrigal was able to trot home for the second run of the inning.
4TH INNING
The very next inning, senior third baseman
Ryan Pierce would leadoff the inning with a towering shot to left field for his ninth home run of the season. Pierce continues to swing a consistent bat as he entered Friday's game with a .284 average. His solo-shot would put him inside the top-ten in program history for career home runs, bringing his total to 24 over his two-year SMC career.
Sarantos locked in on the mound as he retired the next six batters he faced including three strikeouts as the Gaels held a 5-2 lead after six innings.
6TH INNING
The defense was on display all night for the Gaels and they got another web gem right fielder
Diego Castellanos in the sixth inning. Sarantos got into some trouble to start the sixth with back-to-back singles and a wild pitch to put runners on second and third.
The very next at-bat, Sarantos induced a shallow fly ball to right field and Castellanos would make the catch and come up firing to the plate, gunning down the runner for the 9-2 double play. Saint Mary's kept Pacific off the scoreboard as southpaw
Garret Plata would come in and get a strikeout to end the threat and maintain their three-run lead.
9TH INNING
Insurance was not needed for the Gaels but they got it anyway in the ninth thanks to an RBI double from
Aiden Taurek and a two-out RBI single from
Brian Duroff to make it 8-2 Saint Mary's. Kashimoto drew a one-out walk and then stole second to set the stage for Taurek. Taurek ripped a double to the left field wall to score Kashimoto and then Duroff would pull a single through the 5-6 hole two batters later to plate Taurek.
Taurek recorded his team leading 14th double of the season and Duroff got credit for his 16th RBI of the season. Despite the sensational year
Eddie Madrigal has been having for the Gaels,
Aiden Taurek has quietly been putting up career numbers as well with a .340 batting average, 14 doubles and five home runs.
Garret Plata came this close to a four-inning save last week against LMU but was able to avenge himself tonight, inducing a 5-4-3 double play to clear the bases and then getting a fly out to first to end the game and record his first career save. Plata has been one of the team's best arms out of the bullpen this year, combining for seven-plus innings over his last two appearances. He finished the night with 3.1 scoreless innings allowing just two hits on 54 pitches.
Taurek and Pierce combined for four hits on the night while freshman catcher
Ian Armstrong led all players with three hits, two runs scored and an RBI. The El Granada native has also been crucial to the team's success in his first season of collegiate baseball, hitting .326 from the plate with four homers and now eight multi-hit games.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's remained in form Friday night with their 8-2 series opening win over Pacific. They improved to 24-20 overall and 8-8 in conference play. Game two is slated for Saturday evening at 6:00 PM at Klein Family Field. Tickets can be bought online and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
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