Lions Take Hot Bats for Series at St. Mary’s

Loyola Marymount’s baseball team, in the thick of the race in the West Coast Athletic Conference, will play a four-game series at St. Mary’s starting with a single game this afternoon at Moraga.

The teams will play a noon doubleheader Saturday and a single game Sunday.

The Lions, 22-18 overall, are 6-1 in the WCAC and trail only Pepperdine (10-2). Loyola has won five of its last six games, including four straight in the WCAC. St. Mary’s, swept by Pepperdine last weekend, is 2-9 and 14-25.

The Lions, who split a non-conference doubleheader Tuesday at UC Irvine, continue to score, leading the WCAC with a .318 average. Travis Tarchione leads starters with a .386 average plus seven home runs and 40 runs batted in. Miah Bradbury is hitting .381 with 20 doubles and 34 RBIs and Rick Allen is at .359 with eight homers and 44 RBIs.

Infielder Joe Ciccarella has come on lately, raising his average to .338, while outfielder Brian Turang, at .299, has chipped in seven homers and 34 RBIs.

Right-hander Kalani Bush, a 1-0 loser at Irvine, paces the pitching staff with a 7-2 record and earned-run average of 2.97. Brian Clancy is 4-3.