LMU BASEBALL NOTES Page Stadium | One LMU Drive | Los Angeles, CA 90045 | www.LMULions.com | @LMULions @LMLionsBaseball | Baseball Contact: Tyler Geivett | tgeivett@lmu.edu | (310) 338-7638
LMU LIONS (6-10) | #24 LONG BEACH STATE DIRTBAGS (10-5) March 15, 2016 | Long Beach, Calif. | Game 17 | Away 15
QUICK HITS ◊ LMU is picked to finish tied for third in the WCC Preseason Coaches’ Poll ... is picked fifth according to D1Baseball.com ... played in front of a crowd of 1,037 in home opener on 2/23 vs. #21 USC - the largest home crowd since at least 1998 ... began the year on the road for the first time since 2010 ... has been shut out five times this year, including in consecutive games twice (2/20 - 2/21; 3/11 - 3/12) ... prior to this year, LMU was last shut out in back-to-back games on February 9-10, 1985 ... including 5-3 W at #11 TCU this year, is 6-2 on Opening Day under eighth-year head coach Jason Gill ... is 6-2 in Opening Weekend series over that span (only losses against then-No. 7 UC Irvine in 2010 and #11 TCU this year) ... did not play a non-conference home weekend series this year after playing just one non-conference road weekend series last year, and none in 2014 ... 33 wins last year were the most since recording 40 in 2000 (40-19) ... reached 30 wins for the fourth time in seven years under Gill ... has played for the WCC Championship the last two years (both losses to Pepperdine) ... last earned a WCC Championship and NCAA berth in 2000. ◊ TED BOEKE hit LMU’s first HR of the year on 2/23 vs. #21 USC (solo HR | B3) ... made it back-to-back games with a HR on 2/26 at SJSU. ◊ CASSIDY BROWN hit safely in 10 straight games from 2/21 - 3/6, including posting multiple hits in seven of the 10 (.500 (19x38) | 6 R | 4 2B | HR | 6 RBI) ... is batting .351 (13x37) with three doubles, a homer, five walks and five RBI over the last 10 games ... batted .583 (7-for12) with four runs scored, two doubles, a homer and five RBI in three games at SJSU ... was named to Johnny Bench Award watch list. ◊ JD BUSFIELD ranks second in the nation (first in WCC) in strikeout-to-walk ratio (27.00) and is 12th (tops in WCC) in walks-per-nine (.36) ... is a third team Louisville Slugger Preseason All-American according to Collegiate Baseball. ◊ NIKO DECOLATI is batting .462 (6x13) with a homer and two RBI over the last five games ... is batting .367 (11x30) with two homers, a double, a triple and 10 RBI over the last 10 games. ◊ JASON GILL recorded his 200th victory as head coach of the Lions on 2/19 at #11 TCU ... now 205-196-1. ◊ AUSTIN MILLER has hit safely in eight straight games (.361 (13x36) | 4 R | HR | RBI) ... was tabbed a preseason All-WCC selection. ◊ MICHAEL SILVA was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 25th round of the 2015 MLB Draft. ◊ SEAN WATKINS is hitting .421 (8x19) with two doubles and three RBI over the last five games ... was tabbed a preseason All-WCC selection ... a freshman All-American as a utility player last year. THIS WEEK LMU will conclude a nine-game road trip on Tuesday, traveling to #24 Long Beach State for a game at 6 pm ... the Lions will then return home to host Portland to start West Coast Conference play ... all four games can be followed live online at LMULions.com, with free video streams for the three home games against Portland. LION TRACKS LMU had a rough four-game trip to Lincoln, Neb. last weekend, suffering a sweep at the hands of the Huskers ... LMU led 4-1 headed into the bottom of the seventh in game one, but ultimately allowed a walk-off homer to Steven Reveles in the bottom of the ninth of a 4-4 game ... Nebraska then shut out LMU in the next two games before earning a 5-4 victory and the sweep on Sunday. BROWN BACK ON THE BENCH Junior Cassidy Brown was recently honored by being put back on the Bench – earning a spot on the 2016 Johnny Bench Award watch list ... the native of Hudson, Ohio was listed on the watch list for the award, which is presented by BaseballSavings.com, last season as a sophomore ... Brown is one of 74 catchers who were nominated for the award by their schools ... the watch list will be narrowed down to the semifinalists on May 18 before three finalists are chosen on June 6 ... all finalists will be brought to Wichita and the winner will be announced at the 19th Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 30 ... Bench’s career honors include: National League Rookie of the Year (1968); National League Most Valuable Player (1970, 1972); World Series Most Valuable Player (1976); 14-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner ... Bench was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in January 1989 with the fourth highest percentage of total votes cast ... in 2015, Bench was named as part of the Franchise Four Greatest Living Players, along with Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays. WORKING IN THE ZONE LMU pitching has done well to force the opposition to swing the bats so far this year, walking just 34 hitters and hitting seven over 139 innings of work ... the walks-per-nine mark (2.20) places fourth in the nation, and is good for first in the WCC ... J.D. Busfield ranks first in the WCC and 12th in the nation (.36) in the category ... LMU’s strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.74 is 42nd in the nation and tops in the WCC ... Busfield (27.00) ranks second in the nation behind only Andrew Lantrip of Houston (32.00) and first in the conference in that category. IT’S JUST A NUMBER LMU is 31-38-1 against ranked-opponents under head coach Jason Gill over his eight years as head coach ... the Lions are also 7-9 in weekend series over that span ... LMU is currently 1-3 against ranked-foes this season ... the Lions went 1-4-1 last year against such teams, with the lone victory coming in the series finale at #20 Arkansas on 3/8 ... LMU’s best record under Gill against ranked-teams came in his first year (2009) when the Lions went 9-2.
DATE Tue., 3/15 Fri., 3/18 Sat., 3/19 Sun., 3/20
UPCOMING SCHEDULE | PROBABLE STARTERS
TIME 6:00 pm 6:00 pm 6:00 pm 1:00 pm
OPPONENT at Long Beach State Portland Portland Portland
LMU PROBABLE RHP Blake Redman (1-3, 4.50 ERA) RHP JD Busfield (1-0, 3.65 ERA) RHP Cory Abbott (1-2, 3.47 ERA) RHP Tyler Cohen (1-2, 4.26 ERA)
OPPONENT PROBABLE RHP Dave Smith (1-1, 5.52 ERA) RHP Jordan Wilcox (3-0, 1.99 ERA) RHP Davis Tominaga (2-2, 3.20 ERA) LHP Jordan Horak (1-0, 3.44 ERA)
2016 SCHEDULE
OVERALL: 6-10 | WCC: 0-0 | H: 0-2 | A: 6-8 | N: 0-0 Date Day Opponent Time/Result Feb. 19 Fri. at #11 TCU W, 5-3 Feb. 20 Sat. at #11 TCU L, 1-0 Feb. 21 Sun. at #11 TCU L, 5-0 Feb. 23 Tue. #21 USC L, 4-3 Feb. 26 Fri. at San Jose State W, 13-4 Feb. 27 Sat. at San Jose State L, 8-5 Feb. 28 Sun. at San Jose State W, 4-3 Mar. 1 Tue. UC Irvine L, 5-1 Mar. 4 Fri. at Florida International W, 5-4 (12) Mar. 5 Sat. at Florida International (G1) W, 10-3 at Florida International (G2) L, 6-0 Mar. 6 Sun. at Florida International W, 8-4 Mar. 11 Fri. at Nebraska (G1) L, 6-4 at Nebraska (G2) L, 7-0 Mar. 12 Sat. at Nebraska L, 3-0 Mar. 13 Sun. at Nebraska L, 5-4 Mar. 15 Tue. at #24 Long Beach State 6:00 p.m. Mar. 18 Fri. Portland * 6:00 p.m. Mar. 19 Sat. Portland * 6:00 p.m. Mar. 20 Sun. Portland * 1:00 p.m. Mar. 22 Tue. at UC Irvine 6:30 p.m. Mar. 24 Thu. at BYU * 5:00 p.m. Mar. 25 Fri. at BYU * 5:00 p.m. Mar. 26 Sat. at BYU * 12:00 p.m. Mar. 29 Tue. at USC 6:00 p.m. Apr. 1 Fri. at San Diego * 6:00 p.m. Apr. 2 Sat. at San Diego * 6:00 p.m. Apr. 3 Sun. at San Diego * 1:00 p.m. Apr. 5 Tue. UC Riverside 6:00 p.m. Apr. 8 Fri. San Francisco * 6:00 p.m. Apr. 9 Sat. San Francisco * 6:00 p.m. Apr. 10 Sun. San Francisco * 1:00 p.m. Apr. 12 Tue. at UCLA 6:00 p.m. Apr. 15 Fri. Pepperdine * 6:00 p.m. Apr. 16 Sat. Pepperdine * 6:00 p.m. Apr. 17 Sun. Pepperdine * 1:00 p.m. Apr. 20 Wed. at CSU Bakersfield 6:00 p.m. Apr. 22 Fri. at Pacific * 7:00 p.m. Apr. 23 Sat. at Pacific * 7:00 p.m. Apr. 24 Sun. at Pacific * 1:00 p.m. Apr. 25 Mon. Hawai’i 6:00 p.m. Apr. 26 Tue. CSU Bakersfield 6:00 p.m. Apr. 29 Fri. at Santa Clara * 6:00 p.m. Apr. 30 Sat. Santa Clara * 6:00 p.m. May 1 Sun. Santa Clara * 1:00 p.m. May 6 Fri. Saint Mary’s * 6:00 p.m. May 7 Sat. Saint Mary’s * 6:00 p.m. May 8 Sun. Saint Mary’s * 1:00 p.m. May 10 Tue. UC Riverside 6:00 p.m. May 13 Fri. Gonzaga * 6:00 p.m. May 14 Sat. Gonzaga * 6:00 p.m. May 15 Sun. Gonzaga * 1:00 p.m. May 17 Tue. Long Beach State 6:00 p.m. May 28 Sat. WCC Championships TBA May 29 Sun. WCC Championships TBA May 30 Mon. WCC Championships TBA * - WCC Game