Los Angeles, CA (March 17) Freshman Christian Campos hit an inside the park two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to propel the Loyola Marymount University (LMU) baseball team to a 10-6 win over the University of Portland in the final contest of a West Coast Conference three-game series at Page Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Both team traded hits throughout the game to combine for 27 on the afternoon. In the series the two programs combined for 57 runs on 84 hits. The Lions' pair in the bottom of the seventh proved to be the biggest, giving the Lions the series two games to one and improving their record to 8-16 overall and 2-1 in WCC play. Portland drops to 7-10 overall and 1-2 in conference.
With the game tied 6-6, senior Kris Zactuo hit a single to left field to start the seventh inning. Portland starter Zach Yarbrough then got sophomore Joshua Whitesell out on a fly ball to left and reliever Justin Ballweber got senior Tommy Perez out on a grounder to third. The Pilots then brought in Brule Speck, who the Pilots tried to get into face Zacuto but couldn't because they had already brought in Ballweber, to face Campos.
The freshman would then hit his third home run of the season with a line drive to center field. The ball rolled all the way to the 413-foot sign in center and allowed Campos to touch all the bases. LMU would get two more in the bottom of the eighth for the final margin.
For the second straight Sunday starter Joshua Muecke and reliever Vincent Cordova combined for the win. The sophomore Muecke allowed just four runs (two earned) on nine hits over six innings. He left the game with a 6-4 lead. Cordova, who allowed two runs in the seventh that tied the game at 6-6, would be the winner in allowing no runs the final two innings.
For the second straight game Portland would take the first lead, earning a run in the top of the second. The Lions would answer with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. The big hit came on Perez's four home run of the season, a solo shot to left center field. Sophomore Jonathan Higashi would hit a double and freshman Sean Smith a single in the inning to add to the scoring. Smith's hit would score Higashi and sophomore Billy Lockin would have a single to score Smith.
