BSB | Gaels Take Care of Tigers with Doubleheader Sweep

Thursday, April 2

Moraga, CA

6:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

15-13, 3-4

Pacific

10-18, 2-5

Pacific

Saint Mary's

#44 Luis Martin Romero: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 3 SO, W (2-0) vs. Pacific

Photo by: Juan Bernabe (@jb.lenss)

BSB | Gaels Take Care of Tigers with Doubleheader Sweep

4/3/2026 8:06:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

MORAGA, Calif. - The Saint Mary's baseball team picked up game one of the series against Pacific from Thursday night and finished off an 11-4 victory before taking game two later in the day on Friday 6-4 behind 4.2 innings of relief from junior right hander Luis Martin Romero for his second win as a Gael.

In a unique situation with the stadium lights going out on Thursday and having to resume game one Friday afternoon, the Gaels tacked on four runs in the bottom of the seventh and one more for good measure in the eighth to seal an 11-4 victory in the series opener. Senior right hander John Damozonio was sensational yet again, completing a career high seven innings along with a career high 11 strikeouts en route to his West Coast Conference leading fifth win of the season.

Saint Mary's (16-3, 4-4 WCC) would have to turn around and kickoff game two of the series shortly after, but again got solid pitching performances from three different arms. First year Gael Luis Martin Romero threw a career high 4.2 innings in relief including four scoreless frames to record his second career win. Diego Castellanos tied the game at two with his third home run of the season, a two-run shot in the fourth, and the Gaels would never look back. RBI hits from Jared Mettam and Nick Allred would give the Gaels a 6-2 lead in the eighth.

Pacific (10-19, 2-6 WCC) scratched two runs across in the top of the ninth to bump Romero from the game but sophomore right hander Lukas Sarantos came in and got two strikeouts to earn his second save of the season. Tanner Griffith had three hits out of the leadoff spot for the Gaels while Castellanos led the team with a pair of RBI after his game-tying homer in the fourth.

GAME 1: Saint Mary's 11, Pacific 4

The Tigers had their work cut out for them as they went up against Gaels ace John Damozonio. Despite taking a one run lead in the top of the first, Saint Mary's would give Damozonio the lead for good with a five-run first inning. Ian Armstrong doubled with the bases loaded to score a pair of runs and then additional runs would come across after an infield single from Jared Mettam, a hit batter taken by Nick Allred and then an RBI ground out from Cody Kashimoto to complete the five-run frame.

The offense quieted down for the Gaels but Damozonio kept things in check as he recorded a career high 11 strikeouts over his seven innings of work. The San Jose native continues to dominate in his senior season, leading the WCC with five wins and posting a now career low 2.60 ERA. Damozonio threw a season high 112 pitches on the night but a 1-2-3 sixth inning would earn him one more frame to set a new career high. He went on to record two strikeouts in the seventh to leave the game with the Gaels up 6-3.

In the seventh, Saint Mary's loaded the bases and plated three runs before the newly installed stadium lights went out in the middle of the inning. The game would be suspended and resumed Friday afternoon as the Gaels went on to score one more run to take a 10-3 lead into the final two frames. Junior southpaw Cam Staton made his ninth appearance of the season and concluded the final two innings, allowing just one run with one strikeout to lower his season ERA to 4.40 and seal the 11-4 victory. Jared Mettam matched his season high with three hits out of the seven spot for Saint Mary's while also adding a pair of RBI to continue a solid stretch for the senior shortstop.

GAME 2: Saint Mary's 6, Pacific 4

Game two would start at 3:15 p.m., roughly 35 minutes after the conclusion of game one, but Pacific came out swinging, scoring two runs in the third to take a 2-0 lead. Sophomore right hander Sam Kretsch leads the team with 12 appearances on the season but got his first start in the afternoon game. Kretsch would depart with one out in the fourth but put together a solid line, allowing just two runs off four hits for the no-decision.

Replacing Kretsch in a jam with the bases loaded and one out was Luis Martin Romero. Romero has been terrific as a specialty arm out of the pen in his first season as a Gael, and continued that trend as he induced a pop up and a ground out over the next two at bats to strand the bases loaded and keep it a two-run ballgame.

Coincidentally, Saint Mary's took that momentum and cashed it in with a two-run home run from Diego Castellanos to tie the game at two in the bottom half of the frame. Castellanos connected on a line drive shot for his third of the season and 11th of his career. Saint Mary's took its first lead of the game the following inning after getting runners on and a ground out RBI from Makoa Sniffen for his 29th ribby of the year. Romero found a nice groove over his four innings of work, recording scoreless frames over the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth inning.

The Gaels tacked on three more runs in the eighth for some much needed insurance. Mettam singled home Brady Petit for his first hit of the ballgame and then Nick Allred took a pitch deep to the right center gap for an RBI double, his second of the season. A sac fly from true freshman Ian Josephson would plate Allred to complete the three-run inning.

Romero did come on to start the ninth in search of an impressive five-plus inning win but he would eventually turn things over to Lukas Sarantos after giving up a pair of hits to start the inning. The Tigers would score two runs off a two-out double down the right field line but Sarantos was electric in his four batters faced, topping out at 96 and recording two strikeouts including the final out of the game to record his second save of the season.

The 6-4 victory would clinch the series win for Saint Mary's, its first conference series win of the season, and put them back to .500 in WCC play with a 4-4 record.

GAME NOTES

Game 1: Damozonio recorded his WCC leading fifth win of the season; also good for most in a single-season in his career
Game 1: Damozonio also recorded a career high 11 strikeouts, exactly six days after recording what was a new career high with 9 strikeouts in the Gaels 3-0 win over Portland
Game 1: Damozonio also completed a career high seven innings pitched en route to the Gaels 11-4 victory over Pacific
Game 1: Mettam tied his season high with three hits
Game 1: As a team, the Gaels recorded a season high 12 walks at the plate
Game 1: SMC pitching recorded 12 strikeouts on the night, good for third most in a game this season
Game 2: Romero earned his second career win as a Gael, with a career high 4.2 innings pitched in relief
Game 2: Sarantos recorded his second save of the season and sits just one behind the team lead of three from Sam Kretsch
Game 2: Saint Mary's tallied 13 hits for its 21st game of the season with double-digit hits
Game 2: Griffith recorded his 11th multi-hit game of the season and third with three hits
Game 2: Castellanos belted home run number three of the season and 11th of his SMC career
Game 2: Saint Mary's has now won 11 consecutive games over Pacific dating back to 2023

LOOKING AHEAD

Saint Mary's will look for its first WCC series sweep of the season on Saturday with game three against Pacific set to take place at 1 p.m. Tickets can be bought online at smcgaels.com/tickets and you can catch all the action live on ESPN+.

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