Baseball

No. 5 Saint Mary's Slugs Past No. 2 Pacific, 10-7

SMC advances to Saturday's championship game

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - No. 5 seed Saint Mary's won a slugfest over No. 2 Pacific, 10-7, in a winner's bracket game in the 2026 West Coast Conference Baseball Tournament from Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Ariz. 

With the win, the Gaels advance to Saturday's championship game at 1 p.m. on ESPNU. Pacific will play San Francisco in an elimination game tonight at 7 p.m.

The defending conference tournament champions, Saint Mary's will attempt to become the second West Coast Conference team to win back-to-back conference tournaments since Pepperdine in 2014 and 2015.

Saint Mary's got on the board in the bottom of the first when Tanner Griffith scored on a wild pitch. The Gaels added two more in the bottom of the second thanks to a throwing error by Diego Davis on a stolen base attempt by Jared Mettam which allowed Jacob Johnson to score from third. Later in the inning, an RBI single by Cody Kashimoto scored Mettam. 

Ian Armstrong padded the lead in the bottom of the third for the Gaels with a home run off the light tower to make it 4-0. 

Braeden Schnabel got one back for the Tigers with a solo shot to right in the fourth, but it was the fifth inning when the Tigers took control of the game. An RBI single by Diego Davis scored Rylan Evans who had previously doubled to deep right to make it 4-2. Robert Orr's sacrifice fly to center scored Davis, which cut the SMC lead down to one at 4-3. Pacific took the lead after a two-run double by Grant McArthur scored Jake Tandy and Brendan O'Sullivan. 

SMC answered right back in the bottom of the fifth as an RBI double by Makoa Sniffen scored Griffith to tie the game at five. 

In the top of the seventh, the Tigers briefly reclaimed the lead thanks to an RBI double by Schnabel. The Gaels quickly responded in the bottom of the seventh by an RBI single by Sniffen. The Gaels took the lead later in the inning thanks to a bases-loaded walk. Jospehson blasted another big hit with a bases-clearing double to right to make it 10-6. 

Pacific loaded the bases with one out in the ninth inning, but the Gaels got out of the jam with Jake Hilton recording his first save of the season. 

Griffith, Castellanos, Sniffen and Kashimoto all notched two hits. Sniffen also garnered two RBI, second only to three by Josephson. For Pacific, Schnabel went 4-for-5 with a home run, a double, a run and two RBI.