Staggering Out of the Gate : Baseball: Loyola Marymount, off to 1-4 start, tries to regroup when it opens three-game series today against UC Santa Barbara.

Coach Jody Robinson says the play of the Loyola Marymount baseball team has not been a blueprint for success.

“If you’re going to draw it up, you wouldn’t want to draw it up as 1-4 and struggling,” Robinson said.

Loyola was humbled by fifth-ranked Cal State Long Beach, 15-1, on Monday. The Lions open a nine-game home stand--their longest of the season--with a three-game series starting today at 2 p.m. against UC Santa Barbara. The teams play Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Gauchos (4-1) won their first four games, but lost to USC, 8-3, on Tuesday.

“They have everyone back in their infield and those players were so good for them last year,” Robinson said. “They’re a lot like Long Beach except maybe their pitching isn’t quite as deep.”

Despite the poor start, Robinson said the young Lions--15 freshmen are on the 30-player roster--show promise. Sophomore Chad Nichols and freshman Mike Seal, both outfielders, have been impressive at the plate.

Nichols, who was used primarily as a relief pitcher last season, leads the team with a .385 batting average. Seal, who was voted West Coast Conference freshman of the year in a preseason poll by Baseball America magazine, is batting .350 with a team-leading five runs batted in.

As a team, the Lions have struggled offensively, batting only .235.

Freshmen pitchers Brian Fitzgerald and Shawn Hammett have been impressive. Fitzgerald, a former West Torrance High standout, has a 1.13 earned-run average in eight innings of work. Hammett is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in 11 innings.

But overall, Lion pitchers have struggled with a 6.14 ERA.

“Right now we’re fired on about three cylinders and we need nine,” Robinson said. “If we can have those kids keep it going and get the others to pick it up, then we’ll have something going.”

At this point, Robinson’s biggest concern is keeping a positive outlook, especially after a 15-1 loss.

“We just got hammered and after a game like that you tend to get down on yourself,” Robinson said. “But after we were getting blown out, the encouraging thing I could see was I didn’t see any heads down. I think that’s a good sign.”

Robinson said he issued a challenge to the players.

“Basically, we challenged them with the fact that we’re only one-11th of the way through the season and we still have a long way to go,” he said. “We still have to work on some things, like our defense, but I think we’ll be all right.”

Robinson is hopeful the improvement will start today.

“We still have to see how we’ll play starting Friday, but I think we’ll have two good days of practice going into the games,” he said.

Santa Barbara, which has a team batting average of .287, is led by first baseman Chris Johnson, shortstop Danny Lane and third baseman Jeff Antoon--the Gauchos’ all-time home-run leader.

Fitzgerald will be the Lions’ starting pitcher today. Hammett is expected to start Saturday and R. J. Kirkland will go Sunday.