May 1, 2009
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The University of San Diego baseball team's late rally fell short in a 6-5 series opening loss to Loyola Marymount University Friday afternoon in a West Coast Conference game at Paige Stadium.
With the loss, the Toreros fall to 27-19 overall and 10-6 in the WCC. With the win, the Lions improve to 27-21 overall, move to 10-6 in the WCC and have now moved into a tie for second place with USD and Gonzaga in the WCC.
The Lions got on the scoreboard first, as they scored three runs on two hits. The LMU runs came on Ollie Enos RBI single, a Shon Roe sacrifice fly to centerfield and a bases-loaded hit batter to give LMU a 3-0 lead.
USD answered back with one run on three hits in the top of the third inning. The USD run came on an Austin Green solo home run to cut the lead to 3-1.
The Toreros continued to chip away at the lead as they took back one more run in the top of the fourth inning. Zach Walters got things started with a stand-up triple to right centerfield, and two batters later, Bryan Haar drove him in with a run-scoring double to left centerfield to cut the lead to one at 3-2.
The Lions then took advantage of a pair of costly USD fielding errors to score an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth inning to push the lead to two at 4-2.
LMU added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning scoring two runs on three hits. The LMU runs came on RBI singles by Jonathan Johnson and TJ Bernardy to give the Lions a 6-2 lead.
The Toreros then took back one run on three hits in the top of the sixth inning. Nick McCoy led off the inning with a ground-rule double to left centerfield and two batters later, Green drove in McCoy with a RBI single to centerfield to move the score to 6-3.
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In the top of the seventh inning, San Diego's Sean Nicol launched his team-leading seventh home run, a solo shot over the 37-foot high left field fence, to cut the Lions lead to two at 6-4.
For the second consecutive inning, the Toreros scored one run on a solo home run, this time is was Green's second of the game, to cut the led to one at 6-5, but that is as close as the Toreros would come, as the Lions held on to take game one.
Offensively for the Toreros, Green led the way as he went 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI.
Matt Thomson (5-4) was saddled with the loss for the Toreros, as he allowed six runs, five earned, on nine hits in 6.0 innings of work. LMU Starter Lee Roberts (7-0) was credited with the win, as he allowed four runs on 14 hits in 7.0 innings of work. Chris Eusebio was credited with the save, as he allowed one run on one hit in 2.0 innings of work.
The Toreros will return to action on Saturday at 1 p.m. in game two of the three-game series with the Lions at Paige Stadium.
