April 19, 2012

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -

2012 Baseball Release - 10 POR

THIS WEEK: LMU (16-16, 5-4 WCC) will continue West Coast Conference play this week, welcoming Portland (20-12, 7-5 WCC) to Page Stadium for a three-game series starting on Friday at 3 p.m...Saturday's game is slated for 2 p.m., while Sunday's finale will start at 1 p.m...

LION TRACKS: The LMU baseball team walked off with a victory over Long Beach State by a count of 5-4 at LMU's Page Stadium on Tuesday...junior Cullen Mahoney contributed the RBI-single down the right field line to bring home Joey Boney and the game-winner from second base in the bottom of the ninth...the walk-off victory is the first for LMU since walking off against San Diego on May 29, 2011...Boney, who went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, reached with a push-bunt single up the first base line before stealing second to set the table for Mahoney's walk-off single...junior Matt Lowenstein continued his hot hitting, going 3-for-5 out of the leadoff spot, while freshman Mitchell Esser finished 2-for-4 with a run scored out of the eighth spot in the order...LMU used a staff day on the mound on Tuesday, starting with junior Matt Florer...Florer went a career-high five innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out two before not factoring in the decision...Ramiro Carreon tossed the sixth before freshmen Sean Buckle, Kyle Raubinger and Brandon Horth went the next 2.2 innings combined...senior Ryan Hawthorne took over with two out in the ninth, striking out the only batter he faced to strand a runner at third and give LMU the chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth...with the victory, Hawthorne improved to 2-0 on the year...

APPROACHING THE CENTURY MARK: LMU baseball head coach Jason Gill needs just one more wins to reach the 100-win plateau...now in his fourth season, Gill has accumulated a 99-103 overall record...the Lions have posted a pair of 30-win seasons under Gill, including a 30-25 record last year...LMU also played in the 2009 WCC Championship Series where it fell to Gonzaga in Gill's first season at the helm...Gill's first career victory came on February 20, 2009 as LMU beat Utah by a count of 8-7 in the season-opener and Gill's first game as a head coach...

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Freshman Colin Welmon performed like a veteran by fashioning 7.0 shutout innings on the road at Texas, guiding LMU to a 1-0 victory over the Longhorns on March 11, en route to being named to CollegeBaseball360's Primetime Performer's list...Welmon did not factor into the decision, as LMU scored once in the top of the ninth inning, but the native of Tustin, Calif. faced just 24 batters, allowing only three singles while striking out a pair...he finished his outing having retired the final 12 batters he faced in order...Welmon has started nine games for LMU this year, going 4-3 with a 4.18 ERA... Welmon, who earned his first career victory on March 2 at UCSB (6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 K), is a 2011 graduate of Foothill High School in Santa Ana, Calif. and garnered All-City and All-Area recognition as a senior...he posted a string of 25 straight shutout innings of work from the fourth inning of a game at UC Santa Barbara on March 2 through the first inning of a game against Saint Mary's on March 30...has pitched to a 1.18 WHIP and averages 0.64 walks per nine innings...he walked the leadoff man in the fourth inning against USF on April 14, snapping a string of 38.2 straight innings without a walk...Welmon went eight innings en route to a victory over Saint Mary's on March 30 before taking a loss at BYU in his last start on April 5 (6.0 IP - 11 H - 5 ER - 5 K)...Welmon went 4-0 over five starts with a 1.80 ERA in the month of March...he tossed seven shutout innings in three straight starts, including at Texas on March 11, vs. Indiana on March 16 and at Nevada on March 23...he walked just one batter over the 35 innings while striking out 19 in March...

JANUARY CALL-UP: Freshman Trevor Megill, who graduated a semester early from Bixby Charter School in order to attend LMU at semester, will make his 10th start of the year on Saturday...the right-hander has started a game in each of the first nine weekend series this year, going 4-4 with a team-best 2.70 ERA...Megill most recently went 6.1 innings, allowing just two runs on five hits while striking out six batters, to record a victory over San Francisco on April 14...Megill has won each of his last four decisions...prior to the victory over USF, he tossed 6.2 strong innings at BYU on April 6, allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out a career-high tying seven batters to earn his second victory in as many starts...Megill pitched a career-high seven shutout innings against Saint Mary's on March 31, striking out five en route to a victory...he notched his first career victory on March 16 versus Indiana, tossing six innings and allowing just two runs as LMU defeated the Hoosiers by a count of 7-4...he has lasted five or more innings in eight of his nine starts, including at least six innings in seven...he has also allowed two or fewer earned runs in all but one of his starts this year...Megill tossed 16.2 scoreless innings from March 24 to April 6...

SENIOR STARTER: Senior John Lally will make his ninth start of the year on Sunday...the left-hander started each of the first three Sunday games for LMU before missing a turn in the rotation because of the rain-shortened series at Texas...over eight starts and one relief appearance, Lally has gone 2-2 with a 4.54 ERA...for Lally, the start will be the 33rd of his career...Lally had arguably his best start of his career on April 1, going seven strong innings against Saint Mary's to earn the series sweep over the Gaels...the lefty allowed just four hits and one run while striking out four to improve to 2-2...in his last start against San Francisco on April 15, Lally lasted just 3.2 innings and allowed five runs (three earned) on seven hits before not factoring in the decision...

APRIL SHOWERS BRING BONEY POWERS: Junior Joey Boney has taken well to the month of April, batting .409 over seven games in the month...Boney has notched nine runs scored, four doubles, a home run and eight RBI while stealing five bases...Boney managed just three extra-base hits over his 19 games played outside of April while driving in six runs...he has slugged .727 and reached at a .536 clip in April while slugging .324 and reaching at a .346 clip outside of the month...with the hot month, Boney is now the team leader in batting average and slugging percentage...

WATCH IT LIVE ONLINE!: With the start of West Coast Conference play last weekend, LMU Athletics will video stream all home baseball games for the rest of the year through Lion's All-Access...the video stream is free of charge, and will be accompanied by an audio play-by-play broadcast...with the move to streaming video at home, a separate audio link will no longer be available for games at Page Stadium...road games will still utilize Stretch Internet's audio platform...to view the video stream, please visit:
http://tinyurl.com/LMU-All-Access

PLAIA ON THE BENCH: Junior Colton Plaia was named to the Coleman Company-Johnny Bench Award Watch List this year...Forty-six catchers were nominated for the award by their coaches, but because the award is given annually to the top Division I collegiate catcher, the list will be updated to include other candidates until May 7, 2012...the annual award serves to honor those athletes that serve as a team's starting catcher in at least 75% of the games...nominees that end up playing primarily another position, such as designated hitter, or those that split their time with another catcher in a 50/50 situation will be disqualified from semifinalist selection...

GUTHRIE, ROE FEATURED ON WCC YOUTUBE: The West Coast Conference recently posted a video of seniors Shon Roe and Alex Guthrie that was taken at Page Stadium prior to the season beginning...in the video, Roe interviews Guthrie in an attempt to "get to know" the senior third baseman...make sure to check out the video at:
http://tinyurl.com/6tzqegd

BIG WEST...BIG PEST: The Big West Conference is perennially one of the best baseball conferences in the nation, and LMU has had its fair-share of games against Big West Schools while competing in Southern California...having gone 4-7 so far this year against the Big West, LMU is now 28-37 (.431) under Coach Gill in games against the Big West...LMU has lost 10 of the last 14 games against the Big West...including the 11 played so far, LMU is slated to play 17 games against the Big West this year...LMU has played seven of the nine Big West schools under Gill, holding a winning record over Cal State Northridge (6-4), UC Riverside (6-4) and Long Beach State (4-3)...LMU's worst head-to-head record belongs to UC Irvine (2-7)...

U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A: LMU baseball head coach Jason Gill was named to USA Baseball's 2012 Collegiate National Team coaching staff on February 21...Gill and Grand Canyon head coach Andy Stankiewicz join Oregon head coach George Horton as assistants under current Tennessee head coach and USA Collegiate skipper Dave Serrano...although Gill previously served as an auxiliary coach during the 2000 collegiate trials process, he and Stankiewicz will be making their debut as official coaching staff members in 2012...Gill joins former head coach Frank Cruz on the list of Lion head coaches that have been affiliated with USA Baseball...Cruz, now head coach at USC, served as an assistant coach on the 2000 USA Baseball National Team before serving as head coach in 2004...

DO WHAT'S BEST FOR THE TEAM: Senior Shon Roe has posted a pair of sacrifice flies this year, pushing his career total to a program-best 18...Joe Frazee previously held the sacrifice fly record of 16 from 2002-05...Roe recorded eight sacrifice flies in 2010, a season-record for LMU...always willing to sacrifice himself for the team, Roe also ranks second all-time in sacrifice bunts with 29...Carl Fraticelli is the all-time leader in sacrifice bunts, notching 33 from 1985-88...with nine sacrifice bunts this year, Roe ranks tied for eighth in LMU's single-season books...

HOME SWEET HOME: George C. Page Stadium is in its 30th season as the home of Lion baseball in 2012...the Mikos Blue Monster is a replica to Boston's Fenway Park's Green Monster, standing 130-feet wide and 37-feet tall...within the wall is one of only a handful of manual scoreboards in all of college baseball...the board itself isn't small, standing 18-feet tall and 46-feet wide...the Lions, who have posted a 480-361-4 (.570) overall record in the park's 30 seasons, have claimed five conference titles while calling Page Stadium home...the first Page Stadium conference title came in 1986, when the Lions posted a 24-8 record at home...the best record came in 1988, when LMU was 30-5 at home (.857)...

MORE INFO ON THIS PAGE: Drew Cieszynski of StadiumJourney.com recently attended a LMU baseball game at Page Stadium and reviewed the venue as part of StadiumJourney.com's online website...Page Stadium was given a fanfare score of 3.1/5 stars and was ranked in the categories of Food and Beverage (2), Atmosphere (4), Neighborhood (3), Fans (2), Access (3), Return on Investment (4), and Extras (4)...for a complete review of the stadium, please visit:
http://tinyurl.com/7nwxrwh

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A MONTH MAKES: After extremely slow starts to the year, juniors Matt Lowenstein and Colton Plaia are red hot...Plaia batted .185 (5-for-27) during the month of February, but hit .360 (18-for-50) with a pair of doubles, a home run, nine RBI and six runs scored in the month of March...Lowenstein hit just .111 with one extra-base hit in February, but batted .378 with three doubles, a triple, 10 RBI and 10 runs scored in March....in addition, Lowenstein drew an impressive 13 walks in March while managing just two in February...March 3 at UC Santa Barbara seems to be the turning point for both players, as Lowenstein hit .103 to that point and has batted .359 since...Plaia sat a .167 headed into March 3's game, but has batted .306 since that day...

WCC `PLAIA' OF THE WEEK: Junior catcher Colton Plaia earned Rawlings West Coast Conference Player of the Week accolades for the week of April 2 after guiding LMU to a three-game series sweep of Saint Mary's to start conference play...the honor was the first of the year for the Lions, and the first of Plaia's career...Plaia went 5-for-10 (.500) with four runs scored, two home runs, a walk and seven RBI, including posting a career-high five RBI while batting 3-for-4 with a homer on March 30 to help LMU to a 9-4 victory over Saint Mary's...

ALL IN THE FAMILY: Freshman Tanner Donnels and redshirt freshman Kevin Glomb both have family ties to LMU, as Donnels' father, Chris, played baseball at LMU and was part of LMU's 1986 World Series team before being selected in the first round of the 1987 draft by the New York Mets and embarking on a eight-year MLB career...Chris Donnels is LMU's all-time leader in slugging percentage (.650), home runs (45) and RBI (225), setting the LMU single-season records for home runs (21) and RBI (91) in 1986...Donnels' mother and grandfather also attended LMU...Glomb's brother, Michael, played baseball for LMU from 2004-08, while his sister played volleyball at LMU in 2005...

AN ALL-AROUND PLAYER: LMU's roster features six "two-way" players that could potentially see time pitching and playing the field this year...sophomore Bret Dahlson has already assumed that role, earning one starting nod at first base while also serving as the team's closer...Dahlson finished 2-for-4 with three RBI while also recording his first collegiate save as the Lions defeated UNLV, 6-2, on February 19 to earn a series victory over the course of opening weekend...the right-hander entered the game with the bases loaded and two out in the eighth inning, escaping the inherited jam, before contributing a two-RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to provide added run support headed into the ninth...in all, Dahlson plated the final three Lion runs of the game...

PILOT PLOT: Portland enters the weekend series with the Lions sporting a 20-12 overall record, having dropped five of their last six games...Portland dropped two-of-three to Pepperdine on the road last weekend in West Coast Conference play...Turner Gill leads the offense for Portland, hitting .288 with 16 runs scored, six doubles, three homers and 15 RBI...Caleb Whalen provides the pop in the order, belting five home runs to the tune of 22 RBI and a .505 slugging percentage...Portland's true strength comes from the pitcher's mound where the team has amassed the second-best ERA in the nation at 2.44 entering this week...right-hander Kyle Kraus will get the ball on Friday sporting a 1.44 ERA and a 5-2 record over nine starts...he has tossed 68.2 innings, including one complete game...left-hander Travis Radke also has a 5-2 record with a 1.49 ERA over nine starts and 48.1 innings and will start on Saturday...righty Chris Johnson will take the ball on Sunday after accumulating a 2-1 record and a 3.43 ERA over eight starts and 42 innings of work...Owen Jones is the team's closer, posting 12 saves and a 1.83 ERA in 20 appearances...Portland is led by 15th-year head coach Chris Sperry...

WE'RE GOING STREAKING: Nick Devian and Alex Guthrie are the lone Lion hitters with hitting streaks of three games or better headed into the weekend series against Portland...Devian is 5-for-20 (.250) with two runs scored, a double and four RBI over the five games...Guthrie is batting .438 (7-for-16) with three runs scored and a double over his last four games...juniors Cullen Mahoney and Matt Lowenstein each have extensive reached base streaks in tact headed into the weekend, as Mahoney has reached in all 32 games this year...Lowenstein has reached in 24 straight...

WEAR IT: Senior Alex Guthrie has been hit by a pitch a team-high five times this year, running his career total to 29 to rank tied for ninth with Mark Veronda...the LMU record for hit-by-pitches in a career is 49, set by Jim McAnany from 1984-87...

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION: LMU is celebrating its Centennial in 2011-12, and athletics will honor the anniversary all season long...LMUat100 will feature a Centennial Game for each of the varsity programs, including a pair for baseball (April 13 vs. USF and May 18 vs. Pepperdine)...the next Centennial game is scheduled for April 20 when women's tennis hosts BYU at the LMU Tennis Center...pre-game coverage will feature special promotions, giveaways and honor the history of LMU athletics and LMU women's tennis...for more information, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/6uu8clh SEASON TICKET BLANKET: As part of the Centennial celebration, LMU is offering the Centennial Blanket Spring Ticket Pack for season access to baseball and softball...for just $30, you get access to all home regular season events for both baseball and softball...for those fans wishing to purchase a Premium Season Ticket to baseball, an additional $20 per seat will get you a name plate that allows you to reserve your seat in the stands at Page Stadium...in addition, the Season Ticket comes with the limited edition Centennial Blanket, which is your access to those 50 games...for more information, and to purchase, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/7phmj4u

BEAN ENTERS HALL OF HONOR: Former LMU baseball standout Billy Bean was one of nine members of the newest class to enter the West Coast Conference Hall of Honor...the class was inducted on Saturday, March 3 at the Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev. as part of the Conference's celebration of its rich history in athletics and academics during the 2012 Zappos.com West Coast Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships from February 29-March 5 at the Orleans Arena...the 2012 WCC Hall of Honor class includes: BYU's Elaine Michaelis (Volleyball), Gonzaga University's Blake Stepp (Men's Basketball), Loyola Marymount University's Billy Bean (Baseball), Pepperdine University's Dana Jones (Men's Basketball), University of Portland's Kasey Keller (Men's Soccer), Saint Mary's College's Tom Candiotti (Baseball), University of San Diego's Thomas Burke (Administration), University of San Francisco's K.C. Jones (Men's Basketball), and Santa Clara University's Kurt Rambis (Men's Basketball)...Bean spent four seasons at LMU, where he led the Lions to the program's first ever College World Series appearance in 1986 during his senior season, was named to the All-WCC first team twice in his career, and was a member of the ABCA All-American second team in his senior season...Collegiate baseball named him Honorable Mention All-American as a junior...he holds the WCC single-season record for walks with 66, is the LMU single-season record holder for runs scored with 84, and still ranks among WCC career leaders in five offensive categories...Bean played six seasons in Major League Baseball, has his No. 44 jersey retired at LMU and was inducted into the LMU Hall of Fame in 1992...

PICKED BEFORE THE PITCH: Junior Matt Lowenstein was named to the Preseason All-West Coast Conference Team...an honorable mention All-WCC selection last year, Lowenstein batted .349 with 32 runs scored, nine doubles, a triple and 21 RBI last season...he drew a team-best 30 walks and stole nine bases...the left-handed hitter recorded 19 multi-hit games, just three short of the team-high...Lowenstein was held hitless just nine times in 50 games played last year...

CLOSING THE DOOR: Senior Ryan Hawthorne was one of 45 players named to the initial watch list for the eighth annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, which is given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball...the left-hander was the lone representative of the West Coast Conference on the list, but did not make the mid-season list...with two saves this year, Hawthorne currently sits fourth in LMU's All-Time Record Book for career saves with 12, accumulating 10 last year in his first year as a Division I pitcher...the 10 saves in 2011 were good enough to place tied for second in LMU's Single Season Record Book...

WHAT A CLASS: The LMU baseball team recorded a Top-25 recruiting class according to Baseball America's annual evaluation of NCAA Division I baseball classes this year...the Lions came in at No. 23, marking the first Top-25 class under Jason Gill...the class had previously been listed in the "Other Top Recruiting Classes" section of Collegiate Baseball's annual poll...although the 2011-12 class truly includes 13 players, only 12 were considered when the list was prepared because standout recruit Trevor Megill graduated from high school early to attend LMU...of the 12 players originally in the class, four are junior college transfers and eight are freshmen...the class also boasts a pair of 2011 Major League draft picks in freshmen Sean Buckle (LHP, New York Mets, 49th Rd.) and Kyle Raubinger (INF, Baltimore, 28th Rd.)...

SCHEDULE NOTES: According to boydsworld.com, the 2012 schedule ranked 19th in the nation in terms of projected Strength of Schedule (SOS) in the preseason, which takes into account the projected results and success of LMU's opponents this season...LMU currently ranks 33rd in Strength of Schedule, 86th in Iterative Strength Rating (ISR), which is essentially a measure of the quality of a team's season by combining its winning percentage with the difficulty of its schedule, and 116th in Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the official measure of team quality used by the tournament selection committee...the Lions were scheduled to play 55 games this year, including 27 at home in Page Stadium...LMU will host three non-conference weekend series, while playing three non-conference weekend series on the road...three of this year's opponents advanced to the postseason a year ago, including WCC Champion San Francisco, Big West powerhouse Cal State Fullerton, and College World Series qualifier Texas...

PCH CHALLENGE: Separated by 19.1 miles of scenic coastline, longtime cross-town adversaries Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine have come together in an effort to boost their decades-long rivalry with the creation of the Wells Fargo Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) Challenge...the series, which is in its second year, serves as an annual scorecard for the NCAA-sponsored athletic contests between the Lions and Waves, and challenges each institution to rise above the other within the West Coast Conference...any head-to-head competition, including matches in the postseason and tournaments throughout the year, will be counted toward the scoring and added to the scorecard as they occur...for the sports in which the two teams do not meet head-to-head, the teams will battle for points that will be awarded on the basis of overall finish at their respective postseason championships...Pepperdine currently leads LMU in the standings, 11.5-6.5...to learn more about the PCH Challenge and view the current scorecard, please visit:
http://tinyurl.com/6n4l82s

ONLINE YEARBOOK: LMU Athletics, in conjunction with zmags.com, is proud to offer fans a new interactive publication viewing experience...all LMU yearbooks incorporate zmags' Flash-enabled technology to bring fans clickable content featuring videos and live updated web links...LMU interactive guides will continue to feature player and coach biographies, team histories, and information about Loyola Marymount University and its athletics programs while working in tandem with LMU's official athletics website, www.LMULions.com, to offer up-to-date statistics and news...to view the 2012 baseball yearbook, please visit:
http://tinyurl.com/6mu9quy

A BIT OF BACKDRAFT: Four Lion baseball players were selected in the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft, but Ryan Hawthorne (Seattle, 32nd Rd.) elected to return to LMU for his senior year...the 2011 draft marked the first time since 2005 that the Lions had three players selected in the first 12 rounds...the Minnesota Twins took left-hander Jason Wheeler with the 268th overall pick in the eighth round before the Colorado Rockies made righty Alex Gillingham their 11th-round pick with the 348th overall spot...the Twins also decided to take their batterymate, Matt Koch, with the 388th overall pick in the 12th round...

SURVEY SAYS: The LMU baseball team was picked to finish fourth in the 2012 WCC preseason poll as voted upon by all nine head coaches...San Diego earned five first-place votes and 59 overall points in the poll to finish first...last year's second-place finisher, Gonzaga University, earned 57 points and picked up three first-place votes in the annual survey, while San Francisco, 2011 West Coast Conference Champions, garnered a first-place vote and tallied 51 points to finish third in the poll...

GET OFF ON THE RIGHT PAW: Since 2001, LMU has been victorious in eight of its 12 games on Opening Day, earning a 4-3 decision over UNLV on February 17 of this year...

LIONS IN THE PROS: LMU has 10 former players playing professionally in 2012, including one player in Major League Baseball...C.J. Wilson (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) is the lone Lion to play in the majors this year, but four former Lion players made it the Bigs a year ago (Wilson, Jeff Stevens - Cubs, Chris Pettit - Angels, Eric Farris - MLB Debut with Brewers)...the Lions have had more than 113 players drafted by Major League Baseball teams in program history, including nearly 30 players in the last 10 years...Billy Traber and Chris Donnels are the lone Lions to be selected in the first round, interestingly both selected by the Mets...Traber went 16th overall in 2000, while Donnels was taken with the 24th pick in 1987...including Traber and Donnels, LMU has had 20 players taken in the first five rounds of a MLB draft...LMU's best draft came in 2000, as a Lion was taken in each of the first three rounds - Traber went in the first, followed by Michael Schultz in the second, and Scott Walter in the third...for a list of current Lions playing in professional baseball, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/7taglqf

- GO LIONS -