Darryl Harvey
SMDP Intern
The LMU Lions showed some fight, but ultimately fell to the UCSB Gauchos, 3-1, on Tuesday night. This was bullpen night for the Lions as eight pitchers had the opportunity to show their stuff on this cold and windy night at Page Stadium.
LMU assistant coach Mathew Troupe dissected the pitching situation before the game. He said, “We had some tough games this past weekend just in terms of high leverage situations. Which means the bulk of our bullpen, the top part of it, was used multiple times in the weekend. It is going to be the example of a bullpen day.It’s going to be a lot of one innings. Maybe a few matchups there. Always excited for these kinds of days.”
In the first inning, Alex Chavez looked confident. But in the second inning, Masen Swan of UCSB, hit a home run over the blue monster in left field off of Chavez. The score was now 1-0, in favor of UCSB. In the bottom of the second, Zion Williams provided a spark for LMU with a hit into right field.
Troupe honed in on the fact that, “The guys that don’t have a whole bunch of innings at this point and just been chomping at the bit to get in here. So they have their opportunity tonight.” One of those guys was Tanner Warady. In the third inning, he entered the game to pitch for LMU. He looked confident and made a put out at first to end the top of the third.
In the fourth inning, Gabe Maya took the mound for LMU. Maya is a lefty with a nice delivery and mechanics. In the pregame, Troupe was focused on the mentality of the game, “We call it the game because of all those emotions that come in. The game doesn’t change but sometimes we let it. We let the emotions come in and make the game feel a little bit bigger. That’s what I would look out for.” Maya did an excellent job of letting the game come to him. He pitched the fourth and fifth innings and looked very composed while on the mound.
In the sixth inning, Michael Nunez entered the game. Ultimately, he gave up a home run to Justin Trimble of UCSB. There was a player already on base so this extended the UCSB lead to 3-0. In the bottom of the sixth inning, LMU was able to score a run off of a sacrifice fly by catcher Joe Reid. The score at the end of the sixth inning was 3-1, in favor of UCSB.
Troupe said, “If this thing extends and the score starts to flip flop or advance on us. You are going to see a lot of guys with some opportunities to come in and pitch.” In the seventh inning, Sam Brady, entered the game to pitch for LMU. Brady is a lefty who is a redshirt senior for LMU with an effortless delivery. In the eighth inning, Nolan Tillit entered the game for LMU. His command looked sharp and he was making effective pitches. After Tillit threw a wild pitch, Johnny Casale entered the game. He was excited after closing out the top of the eighth inning. Lastly, the bullpen game ended with graduate student Jacob Fried pitching the top of the ninth inning.
