LOS ANGELES, Calif. --- Portland starter Jordan Wilcox kept the Loyola Marymount hitters off balance all night long and the Pilots scored two runs in the top off the ninth inning to win the 2016 West Coast Conference opener 3-1 over the Lions on Friday night at Page Stadium. The game featured a combined 10 hits, and Wilcox stays perfect on the year.
With the score tied 1-1 in the top of the ninth, Caleb Whalen provided the game-winning RBI with a sacrifice fly that brought home Eric Sapp. Sapp had previously led off the final frame with a clutch triple to deep right field.
The senior first baseman just did beat the throw to third base, and it set up Whalen, Portland's leader in RBI's this season. Whalen came through with a line drive to center that was deep enough to allow Sapp to tag up and score.
The Pilots (11-6, 1-0 WCC) then added an insurance run when a throw from the LMU (6-12, 0-1 WCC) catcher ended up in left field on a double steal. The error allowed Ryan Barr to score, making it a 3-1 game. Barr and Cody Hawken had previously singled.
Portland reliever Cole Doherty then entered the game to begin the bottom of the ninth, and the senior lefty retired the Lions in order, including a game-ending strikeout, to register his first career save.
Doherty continued what was started by Wilcox (4-0), who cruised through the first seven innings. He held the Lions to just two hits through those scoreless seven innings, but LMU finally got to the senior right-hander in the eighth. Ted Boeke led off with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored the tying run on a single by Austin Miller.
Miller soon found himself on third base with two outs, but Wilcox ended the inning and the threat by fanning Cassidy Brown.
Wilcox's final line was one run on four hits and a walk in 8.0 innings. He fanned six.
The Pilots scored the game's first run in the top of the second. With no score, Cooper Hummel led off the inning with a double. Barr advanced him to third with a sac bunt, and Hawken picked up the RBI with a base hit up the middle.
J.D. Busfield (1-1) was also solid on the mound for LMU, but he's saddled with the loss. He scattered six hits in 8.2 innings, and he was charged with all three Portland runs. Harrison Simon relieved Busfield in the ninth and retired the only batter he faced.
The Pilots and Lions next play the second game of their three-game set on Saturday night at 6 p.m.
