LOS ANGELES—A ninth inning CSU Bakersfield comeback fell short as Loyola Marymount defeated the Roadrunners 7-3 Tuesday night.

RBI doubles from both Cassidy Brown and Jamey Smart in the bottom of the first highlighted a three run Loyola Marymount (22-20) scoring spurt. Nick Vehlewald led off the CSUB third with a triple and came home on a Jake Ortega sacrifice fly to get the Roadrunners on the board. Smart picked up his second RBI with hits second double in the third to return the lead to three for the Lions.

Lions' starter Brandon Arriaga controlled the Roadrunners. After allowing just three hits to CSUB during his Apr. 20 start in Bakersfield, Arriaga retired 10 CSUB batters in a row at one point before giving up a one out triple in the top of the sixth to Dustin Frailey. The 'Runners were able to take advantage of the runner in scoring position as Mahlik Jones' grounder to short plated Frailey for a 4-2 score.

Loyola Marymount extended the lead once again in the sixth. Niko Decolati singled to lead off the inning. With the hit and run on, Ryan Erickson's opposite field single to right advanced Decolati. Erickson took second on the throw. With the CSUB infield in, Seaver Whalen lined out to third. Jimmy Hill's blooper to single allowed Decolati to score. Billy Wilson, the ninth place hitter, was hit by a Max Carter pitch to load the bases.

Carter, the CSUB starter, was relieved by Matthew Franco to face Phil Caulfield in a lefty-lefty matchup. Franco walked Caulfield on four consecutive pitches. Franco struck out Spencer Erdman before Brown walked for his second RBI of the night. Franco struck out Smart to finish the inning.

After retiring eight in a row entering the ninth, Arriaga issued his first walk to Frailey to open the inning. With one out, David Metzgar doubled off LMU's 37-foot “Blue Monster” wall in left, scoring Frailey and chasing Arriaga in favor of Michael Silva. Silva walked Chance Gusbeth. Not taking any chances, LMU brought on their closer, Sean Watkins to face pinch-hitter Christian Deaton with the tying run on deck.

Watkins' first pitch went to the backstop, allowing both runners to advance a base.  With the corners up, Deaton grounded out to third keeping both CSUB players in place. Ryan Grotjohn walked to load the bases Junior Felix fell behind 0-2 in the count to Watkins, but battled back to 2-2 before striking out looking to end the game.

Arriaga would give up four hits and strike out six in 8.1 innings. Smart, who went 4-for-5 at CSUB last week, was 2-for-3 against the 'Runners on Tuesday night.  Four Lions (Brown, Smart, Decolati, and Erickson) combined for the 10 LMU hits on the night.  Metzgar had two of the four CSUB hits.

CSUB (9-30, 4-10 WAC) heads to Utah Valley (22-18, 8-7 WAC) for a three game WAC series in Orem that gets underway Friday at 6 p.m. (MDT).

The Roadrunners return home May 13 against Chicago State which will begin a seven game home stand that concludes the regular season. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Tickets are available through e CSUB Ticket Office at (661) 654-BLUE or tickets@csub.edu, or online at Vallitix.com.

~www.GoRunners.com~