STOCKTON, Calif. - Saint Mary's went yard a season high five times and got shutdown innings from
Sean Cannon and
Noah Waldeck to seal the 11-5 series finale win over Pacific. The sweep would go down as their second in conference play as the Gaels have now won three consecutive conference series and eleven of their last twelve games.
Saint Mary's recorded three of their season high five home runs in the second inning including back-to-back shots from
Eddie Madrigal and
Cody Kashimoto.
Brian Duroff homered in the third to add to a very productive series and Kashimoto homered again in the fourth for his first multi-homer game of his career.
Sean Cannon earned his second win of the season for his scoreless sixth inning and
Noah Waldeck made his second appearance of the weekend and picked up his second save of the season with three flawless innings.
2ND INNING
The party got started in the second as the Gaels smashed three home runs off the bats of
Ryan Pierce,
Eddie Madrigal and
Cody Kashimoto. Pierce homered to straightaway center for his tenth of the season and his second of the series to give the Gaels a one-run lead.
The inning would be capped off with back-to-back homers from Madrigal and Kashimoto to give them an early 6-0 lead. Madrigal's two-run shot went down as his 16th of the season to lead the WCC while Kashimoto sent one over the right field fence for his second of the season.
Madrigal has seen much better pitches since shifting to the leadoff spot but Kashimoto continues to prove he's a dangerous hitter out of the two spot, making for a deadly combination at the top of the Gaels batting order. Brian Druoff crushed his fourth home run of the season an inning later and then
Cody Kashimoto connected on his second long ball of the game for his first career multi-home run game, piling on to the Gaels early lead.
Sophomore
John Damozonio anchored the Sunday starter spot for the third straight week and worked his way into the fifth inning before departing for
Talin Gardini. Damozonio would get credit for the no decision with four innings of work, allowing five runs off six hits.
Things would heat up in the sixth as Pacific scored five runs over the previous two innings to make it a four-run game. In the top half of the sixth, Pacific reliever Carson Revay would strikeout Madrigal to end the inning. Looks were exchanged between the two teams as the intensity ramped up. Freshman reliever
Sean Cannon would return the favor with a punch out of his own to end the bottom half of the sixth inning and ignite the Gaels dugout as they took a 9-5 lead into the final third of the game.
8TH INNING
Saint Mary's took advantage of two more throwing errors from Pacific in the seventh and eighth innings to tack on two more runs.
Tanner Griffith ripped a line drive off the Tigers reliever and found his way to third after the catcher threw the ball down the right field line. Griffith would eventually trot home on a wild pitch to give the Gaels an 11-5 lead.
Sophomore
Noah Waldeck replaced Cannon for the final three innings and was fabulous, not allowing a single base runner and as a result recording his second save of the season.
Saint Mary's averaged just over nine runs per game in their weekend series with the Tigers and remain one of the hottest teams in the WCC with eleven wins over their last twelve games. Madrigal and Kashimoto were special out of the top two spots in the batting order, combining for three home runs, five hits and four ribbies.
Brian Duroff also had a pair of hits including his fourth long ball of the season. Despite his slow start to the season, Duroff now has a six-game hit streak which features two homers and seven RBI as the teams DH.
Gonzaga came back to beat LMU in their series finale 9-7 and as a result, Saint Mary's leapfrogged the Lions for fourth place in the standings with just two conference series remaining. Portland sits just a game ahead of the Gaels in third place at 11-7 as they took two of three against Santa Clara this past weekend.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's improved to 26-20 overall and 10-8 in conference play after their series sweep over Pacific. They will embark on their longest road trip of the season this upcoming week as they take on nationally ranked Oregon for two games and then head over to Spokane for a three-game series with Gonzaga starting on Friday, May 9th.
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