The Wildcats earned their third series win of the season with a 22-11 victory Sunday over Loyola Marymount, taking the second and third games of the series and improving to 10-10 on the year.

In the victory, the team hit five home runs, including a 471-foot blast from Diego Cardenas, senior from El Paso. Zandt Payne, graduate from Edmond, Oklahoma, hit two home runs on the day, including one in the bottom of the first inning. Grant Watkins, senior from Los Alamos, New Mexico, hit two out as well, totaling seven runs batted in for the afternoon. Nick Arias, senior from Tucson, Arizona, totaled a career high five RBI in his two-hit day while scoring three times. 

The Sunday rubber match was set up after the Lions took game one 3-0 after both starting pitchers went seven innings while striking out 11 each. Brett Lanman, junior left-handed pitcher from Fairview, gave up two runs on four hits en route to his career high in strikeouts. He threw 94 pitches in his seven-inning outing, a season high. Head Coach Rick McCarty said after the series that while the team takes a conservative approach to pitching early in the season, the team’s arms will begin to see an increased workload.

“Brett’s been trending up,” McCarty said. “We were really conservative with pitch counts early in the year. There’s some guys that are running dudes up 100 pitches in the second and third weekend. We have yet to do that here.”

While Lanman fell to 0-3 on the season, LMU’s Jonah Johnson improved to 2-2 on the year. Johnson threw seven scoreless innings while only allowing four baserunners. The Wildcats threatened in the bottom of the ninth but left the bases loaded to end the game.

“Friday, we ran into a really good arm,” McCarty said. “He was dialed in, and I thought Brett was dialed in. There were three half-innings in which a run was scored, and they happened to get all three of them. I thought we played clean Friday night… We’re usually going to win those games.”

Saturday’s game started with a pitchers’ duel, with junior Aiden Coleman, right-handed pitcher from Stone Oak, going five scoreless innings and earning his second win on the season. Coleman improved to 2-0 on the year after the Wildcats scored 11 runs while keeping the Lions quiet until the seventh inning.

The 11-5 win featured a 6-run sixth inning for the Wildcats that chased LMU starter Adam Behrens from the game. Behrens entered his third start and sixth appearance of the season, having not given up a walk to an opponent through 22 innings. The Wildcats ended that streak by finding a four-ball count three times while only striking out twice. Behrens took the loss for the Lions, giving up five runs on five hits in 4.1 innings.

All nine Wildcats with at-bats on Saturday got on base with a hit, with eight reaching base at least twice and three having multi-hit days. Cardenas had his third multi-home run game while driving in six, adding a double to his three-hit day. Watkins and Cardenas have now combined for 19 home runs through 20 games.

“When they’re in their legs, let the ball travel and get on time, it’s really fun to watch,” McCarty said. “I was proud of the way they finished the weekend.”

The 2-1 series win sends the Wildcats into a Wednesday midweek matchup with Incarnate Word on a two-game winning streak.

The two teams met in San Antonio last Wednesday as the ‘Cats fell 13-1. They’ll look to draw even in the home-and-home series before going on the road for a three-game series with New Mexico this weekend. The Lobos enter the weekend 13-8 after a midweek loss to the Arizona Wildcats on Tuesday.

“We’ve got two weeks to try and figure this thing out as we head into conference,” McCarty said. “We get to do that on the road. We’re home Wednesday, but then we’re off to New Mexico who’s off to a really good start, and then we’ll go to McNeese who’s traditionally strong in the Southland.”