Stockton, Calif. – The Pacific Tigers couldn't come away with the W in their return to WCC play, losing to the Saint Mary's Gaels 14-2 at home in rainy conditions.  The loss was the fourth straight in conference play for the Tigers, who are now 3-7 in the WCC and 10-17 overall.  Saint Mary's moves to 17-10 and 7-3.

Will Lydon took the mound in search of his first win of the year but came away with a loss, falling to 0-7.  Lydon gave up five earned runs in his 4.2 innings of work, striking out four.  The junior has struck out at least four in six of his eight starts this year. 

Corbin Burnes entered his eighth start of the year leading the WCC in ERA at 1.50 and only lowered it with six innings of one-run ball.  Burnes gave up a solo homerun and almost nothing else, as Pacific managed just five baserunners against him while striking out nine.  He is now 5-0.

Lydon entered the game with ten unearned runs against him this season and saw that total rise in the first inning.  The junior got two quick outs before walking a man.  A single over Louis Mejia's head put men on the corners.  A routine grounder looked ready to end the inning but the Tigers muffed the ball then overthrew the first baseman to allowed Saint Mary's to score a run and put men on second and third.

Blake Barry made a dive to try and end the inning when Anthony Gonsolin sent a line drive to center.  Barry got his glove on the ball but couldn't get enough of it to hold on, with it ending up a two-run double to make it 3-0.

Once again, errors cost Pacific, as Saint Mary's put men on the corners with two outs in the second after an error on a grounder that would have ended the inning.  Nate Nolan got around on a pitch and sent it to left for a single after that, scoring one.

Saint Mary's sent a bouncing ball up the middle straight over second base to push another run across and make it 5-0.  A grounder in the hole was too deep for Kevin Sandri to get a throw off, making it an infield single and scoring Saint Mary's sixth run.

The Gaels scored again to start the third with a homer to left on a 1-2 pitch.  It was the first earned run in the game, as Lydon had not given up an earned run in his last 8.2 innings over three starts.

Kevin Sandri blasted his fifth double of the year in the third after a J.P. Yakel single.  Yakel, who is now hitting .382 in WCC play, tried to score but was thrown out at the plate on a strong relay play by the shortstop.  The double by Sandri was his fourth at home, where he has hit .377.

Gio Brusa put Pacific's first run on the board in the fourth.  Brusa got everything behind the ball and left it in the bullpen in rightfield to set a new single-season high in homers with five.  Four of Brusa's homers have come in the last six games of WCC play.  Brusa is tied with Danny Mayer for the most homers in WCC games this year and has hit .517 with eight runs, five doubles, four homers, and 11 RBI in his last seven games, with RBI in four straight.

It wasn't long before the Gaels pushed their lead beyond six runs.  The visitors had two straight singles to start the fifth.  The first was fielded by Louis Mejia but the senior was sprinting away from first as he grabbed the ball and couldn't get off a strong enough throw.  The next single bounced beneath a diving J.J. Wagner's glove.

Lydon got a strikeout after that but a ground-rule double scored another run to make it 8-1.  A single to short center scored another, leaving men on the corners.

Saint Mary's had their second double of the inning to make it 10-1 with two men in scoring position and just one out.

Another error by Pacific cost the team another run, as Saint Mary's scored and left men on the corners with one out.  A walk ended Lydon's night with the bases loaded.  Shives came on and did his job admirably, getting a popup to end the inning. 

Two straight singles in the sixth served as the appetizer to more Saint Mary's scoring.  Shives got two quick outs but gave up a double that bounced against the leftfield wall down in the corner to make it 12-1.  A single to center brought home the two runners on base.

Shives did his part from there with a strong seventh inning.  Shives forced three easy popups wedged around a single to put up a scoreless inning.  It was the first of two straight scoreless from Shives, who went 3.1 innings in the game with two strikeouts.

Pacific loaded the bases in the eighth.  Danny Mayer singled for his first hit of the game, followed by Brusa drawing a four-pitch walk.  Freshman Dylan Robertson, who entered the game as a defensive replacement earlier, also walked, this time on a full count to load the bases.  The Tigers couldn't do anything from there, however, and left the inning still down 14-1.

Toby Woods pitched the ninth inning for the Tigers and earned his first strikeout, getting Matt Toscano to swing and miss after a leadoff triple.  Woods repeated that with the next man, getting ahead 0-2 and striking him out with a pitch low in the zone.  After a HBP and a walk, Woods got his third strikeout to end the inning, getting a man swinging for the third time in the inning.  Woods had only faced three batters all season before striking out the side.

The Tigers loaded the bases once again in the bottom of the ninth.  It all started when McKay Koissian reached via error on a dropped popup.  Jimmy Boras and Joey Mejia singled after that.  It was the second hit of Mejia's career, making him 2-for-4 as a freshman.

Miles Haddad drove in the final run of the day with a sacrifice fly, giving him a new best for a single season.  Haddad has driven in a run in each of his last two appearances, both of which came this week.

The second game of the Saint Mary's series, on Saturday at 6:00 pm, will be the first fireworks night of the year as well as the Alumni Night.  The series will conclude Sunday at 1:00 pm.  Tickets for all games are available online.

Make sure to follow Pacific baseball on Twitter with the username @PacificBaseball and on Instagram at pacificbaseball.