Box Score Stockton, Calif. – The Pacific Tigers lost 9-1 to the Loyola Marymount Lions tonight, bringing their seven-game winning streak to an end. The winning streak was tied for the longest since an eight-game winning streak in 1996. Pacific also won seven in a row in 2000 and 2014. During the winning streak, the Tigers had a team ERA of 1.97 and only once gave up more than five runs. The loss drops Pacific below LMU in the WCC standings, as LMU is now 9-8 in league play and Pacific is 8-9. The Tigers committed six errors in the game, a new season high.
Ricky Reynoso started for Pacific but ended up with his third loss of the year despite not giving up an earned run. The freshman only lasted two innings as he gave up four runs in the second, leading to Bryce Lombardi taking over.
Cory Abbott entered the game with Loyola Marymount's best ERA among starters at 3.07. He went seven innings and looked just as good as always as he picked up his fifth win this season while allowing just one run.
Reynoso got in a tough spot as soon as the game started. The Lions singled to start the game over Dylan Robertson's head, with a walk putting two on with just one out.
Pacific's freshman starter started an odd caught stealing to kill LMU's attack. Reynoso turned to try the pickoff just as the runner on second took off for third. The Tigers got the runner in a rundown for the out, though the back runner advanced to second. Reynoso then fought through a tough at-bat and got his first strikeout of the game after fighting with LMU's Jamey Smart for 12 pitches.
After going 3-for-4 last night, Nate Verlin singled in his first at-bat of the game with a bouncing grounder straight up the middle. Verlin now has a five-game hitting streak .429. Unfortunately, a double play killed the early offense for Pacific.
Loyola Marymount put another two men on in the second, this time via an error and a single through the hole on the left side. Reynoso started to work around the jam with a lineout to Danny Mayer but the Lions drew blood after that.
LMU doubled to leftfield to score the game's first run. A throwing error trying to get the runner going to third scored a second run before another double made it 3-0. The final run of the inning scored on a single to rightfield.
Gio Brusa tried to throw the runner out at home on the single but the throw was too late. J.P. Yakel made the smart play to recognize this and rushed forward to cut it off and throw it to second, getting the batter trying to stretch his single to end the inning.
Pacific pushed a man into scoring position in the bottom of the second as they fought out of the four-run hole. J.J. Wagner drew a walk to reach base and then stole second for his second stolen base of the season. Robertson walked after that to put yet another man on base for the Tigers. Sadly, Pacific couldn't capitalize on the baserunners as a fielder's choice ending the second.
Once again, the Lions put the leadoff man on base as a walk started the third after Lombardi came in to pitch. The Tiger defense made quick work of the baserunner with a 6-4-3 double play, their fourth turned double play of the series already.
For the 26th time in 43 chances, Sandri reached base in a leadoff situation, this time with a skimmer off the grass and into left-center for a single. Blake Barry also singled with an infield hit on a hit-and-run. Barry sent a high bouncer to short that didn't give the shortstop any chance at a throw. The junior now has hits in six of the last seven games in which he has batted, broken up only by an 0-for-1 pinch-hit appearance against Sacramento State.
A groundout moved the runners up, giving Brusa an opportunity with two men in scoring position and two outs. The Lions refused to give Brusa a pitch to hit and the senior walked once again as LMU pitched around him. Brusa has now reached base 13 games in a row.
The bases were left loaded by the Tigers, who entered the game hitting .319 with the bases juiced. A grounder down the line was eaten up by the third baseman and a throw on the run beat J.J. Wagner to the base to end the inning scoreless and maintain LMU's 4-0 lead.
The Lions put the leadoff batter on base for the fourth inning in a row with a single to left-center. Lombardi got the strikeout after two failed bunt attempts to move the runner over but a stolen base did the job for LMU anyway. An infield single put men on the corners with one out. Sandri got to a slow roller and fired the ball across but the batter was called safe at first.
A grounder to Wagner looked ready to start an around-the-horn double play that would have ended the inning. Unfortunately, an error on the catch at second scored a run and put men on second and third. Those two would come around to score when a line drive got past Verlin's glove as he dove, making it 7-0.
Mayer put the Tigers on the board with his second homer of the weekend, blasting the ball to dead center for his 11th of the year. That homer pushed him ahead of Brusa for the conference lead in homeruns and moves Mayer to 15th in the nation. Pacific now has 29 homers this season, already their most in a single season since 2010 and the third-most in the WCC. In conference play alone Pacific has 18 homers, the most of any team.
The homer making it 7-1 was Mayer's first hit of the night and made it 19 games in a row that he has reached base, the longest streak this year for any Tiger. Mayer and Brusa have combined to make Pacific one of just four teams in the country to feature multiple batters with ten or more homeruns.
Brusa reached base again after that when he worked a full-count walk for his 16th of the year in the WCC, the most by any player in the conference. That was all in the inning for the Tigers, however.
Once again, Loyola Marymount started an inning with a man on base, this time with a single on the ground up the middle. Another single, this one on a high popup to right that found just the right place to fall in out of Brusa's reach, helped LMU threaten once again.
Lombardi hunkered down and struck out the next batter for the first out, giving him a bit more room to breathe. A walk loaded the bases but once again Lombardi got the out he needed with an easy popup to the shortstop.
A liner down the line in left almost scored three runs but thankfully the ball barely landed foul. Lombardi got a K on a checked swing to end the inning scoreless and keep the score 7-1 LMU.
Justin Giovannoni came on for the seventh inning after four strong from Lombardi. The first batter tried to take Giovannoni's head off with a liner that Robertson fielded and got the out on. The next batter also hit it straight at Giovannoni and off his glove. It was fielded but thrown past Verlin for an infield single that put the runner on third on Pacific's sixth error of the game. The six errors added to the new season high for the Tigers, who previously had committed four errors in a game twice.
The delayed steal didn't fool Pacific as Sandri got the second out with a 2-6-2 caught stealing. Yakel threw to second as the man on first went in motion. The throw was late and Sandri fire home as the man on third tried to score. Yakel did well to cut off the basepath and get the out. A flyout fouled, ending the inning scoreless.
Mayer had his second extra-base hit of the game in the bottom of the seventh when he bashed the ball off the wall in leftfield for a double. It was his 21st extra-base hit this year and gave Mayer his fourth game this year with multiple extra-base hits.
The Lions added another run in the eighth. A walk and a single put men on the corners with one out for the visitors. Wagner went home with it on a grounder to avoid a run and get the second out, but a single just one pitch later made it through the right side to score the run.
A single to load the bases ended Giovannoni's night. Shelby Lackey took the mound to try and get the one out Pacific needed to escape the jam with minimal additional damage. The freshman looked great and got the strikeout looking to stop LMU's offense in its tracks.
Pacific brought in a host of defensive changes in the ninth, bringing Joey Mejia, Miles Haddad, McKay Koissian, and Vinny Margiotta into the game. The Lions singled to start the inning again and moved the runner up on a passed ball and a wild pitch, making it five wild pitches and passed balls for the Tigers tonight. The run scored on a groundout for the seventh unearned run of the game, making the final score 9-1.
The series against Loyola Marymount will wrap up tomorrow at 1:00 pm with Bark at the Ballpark day. Tickets for all home games are available online.
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