April 21, 2006
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Getting the third out in what turned out to be big innings for Loyola Marymount got things off to a rough start for the Santa Clara University baseball team Friday afternoon. SCU fell into an early six-run hole from which it could not escape, falling 10-3 in the series opener against the Lions at George Page Stadium.
The Broncos will look to even things up in the series in tomorrow's contest, slated to begin at 1 p.m. Sunday's series finale is also scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch.
Eric Newton hit his conference-leading 12th home run of the season Friday with a solo job to lead off the fifth inning. Matt Long and Daniel Nava each had a pair of hits while Kris Watts added a two-RBI double.
The Lions struck early in the contest, as two-out RBI singles by A.J. LaMonda and Anthony Soto staked LMU to a quick 2-0 lead. After SCU went scoreless in the top of the third, Loyola Marymount again staged a two-out rally against Bronco starter Justin Kuehn, who dropped to 2-5 with the loss.
Chris Pettit tripled following a double play, and consecutive singles gave the Lions a 3-0 lead and two on for LaMonda, who stroked a triple into the right-centerfield gap to score two more. He was subsequently driven in on a Casey Gordon single to complete the scoring for the inning.
Santa Clara attempted to climb back into things, as after trading runs in the fifth, singles by Long and Nava followed by a Dustin Realini walk loaded the bases for Watts. The senior from Fremont came through with the double down the left-field line to plate two, but a pair of strikeouts stranded Realini and Watts to end the inning.
LMU put things away in the bottom half of the inning, as again with two out and two on, the Lions got the big hit. This time it again came from Pettit, who banged out a three-run homer to put things out of reach and secure starter Brad Meyers' sixth win of the season.