Lions Rally in 9th to Nip UCLA, 11-10

Traditionally, the baby-blue walls of UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium don’t do much to cool off Loyola Marymount’s red-hot bats.

The Lions haven’t lost at the Bruins’ home park since 1986, when Loyola won four NCAA West Regional games here en route to the College World Series.

The Lions, ranked ninth in the nation, extended their winning streak at the field to eight Wednesday night with a wild 11-10 non-conference victory over 14th-ranked UCLA.

Loyola scrapped out two runs in the top of the ninth off UCLA reliever Michael Vdovkin. Loyola’s Bobby Hughes and pinch hitter Phil White led off the inning with singles.

Hughes scored on an error by UCLA second baseman Mannie Adams, and Paul Graves, running for White, crossed on Rick Mediavilla’s groundout.

The Lions’ rally made a winner out of Miah Bradbury, Loyola’s All-American catcher. Bradbury, whom Loyola Coach Chris Smith calls the “nuts and bolts” of his team, was called upon to pitch in the eighth, and held off the Bruins in the ninth to earn his second victory in four appearances.

The Bruins had rallied for five runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Kevin Webb’s one-out sacrifice fly to center in the bottom of eighth inning gave UCLA a 10-9 lead.

The Lions had built a 9-5 lead by the top of the seventh, but the Loyola bullpen couldn’t keep the Bruins down. UCLA used a pair of walks to scratch out two runs in the bottom of the inning.

To open the eighth, left-hander Chris Spears walked Mannie Adams and gave up a double to Robbie Katzaroff. Bradbury replaced Spears but was greeted by a two-run single up the middle by Bruin shortstop Mike Hankins to tie the score at 9-9.

The Lions scratched out a run in the first when Bradbury doubled home leadoff man Mediavilla.

Loyola (37-10) stretched the lead to 4-0 with three runs in the second on Mediavilla’s run-scoring ground out and a two-run double by shortstop Chris Gomez.

But the Bruins (31-17) bounced back with three runs of their own in the second. Adams’ double scored two with two out, and Katzaroff followed with a grounder through the legs of third baseman Hughes to score Adams.

Webb’s sacrifice fly tied the game at 4-4 in the third.

UCLA’s Chris Pritchett gave the Bruins a short-lived lead in the bottom of the fifth with his 10th homer of the season--a skyscraper shot to right-center off Loyola left-hander Steve Surico.

But Loyola second baseman Kevin Van de Brake stroked a two-run double down the line in right field with two out in the top of the sixth, giving the Lions a 6-5 lead.