Hughes Homer Caps Loyola Series Sweep : College baseball: Heavy-hitting Lions outslug St. Mary’s, 11-9, 14-6 and 10-9.

If Bobby Hughes had hit the baseball to Timbuktu, Loyola Marymount Coach Chris Smith couldn’t have been any happier.

After Hughes stroked a tremendous two-out home run to lift Loyola to a series sweep over visiting St. Mary’s College with a 10-9 victory in the second game of Saturday’s double-header, Smith was thinking about timing, not tape measures.

“I’m not concerned about how far he hit it,” Smith said. “What I’m really happy about is when he hit it.”

Loyola was down, 9-8, in the bottom of the ninth, with Tony Kounas on first base after beating out an infield hit, when Hughes connected on a high split-fingered fastball from St. Mary’s reliever Bill Crist.

“It looked like a watermelon coming up there,” said Hughes, a freshman third baseman.

It disappeared like a golf ball. The ensuing drive--Hughes’ sixth homer of the year--was still clawing for altitude when it hit just a foot below the top of the screen above the left-field fence at Loyola’s George Page Stadium.

Hughes’ round-tripper was the big blow, but Loyola right fielder Tim Williams sparked the rally with one out in the ninth with an opposite-field solo homer to left--his ninth of the year--to pull the Lions within a run.

“When you have comebacks like that, you have to believe in team chemistry,” Smith said.

With the sweep, Loyola improves to 31-9 overall and 17-4 in the West Coast Conference. The 14th-ranked Lions are now three games ahead of second-place Pepperdine.

The Gaels dropped to 19-17 (8-12) despite pounding Loyola pitchers for 18 hits in the series finale. Loyola won the first game of the series Friday, 11-9.

Loyola picked up 11 hits in the first game of the double-header en route to a 14-6 victory. Catcher Miah Bradbury led the Lions by going four for four with seven RBIs, including a grand slam, his seventh homer of the year.

Loyola leadoff man Rich Mediavilla was the Lions’ catalyst in the series, going eight for 14 in the three games to raise his average to .410. He also scored seven runs.

Designated hitter Joe Testa, starting in place of the injured Joe Ciccarella, hit two homers in the series and drove in 10 runs.