SAN FRANCISCO—A first inning home run for Loyola Marymount was the difference as the Dons dropped the contest 4-0 on Saturday afternoon and has set up what should be an eventful final day of the regular season.
 
Along with wins by Pepperdine and BYU, the loss sets up a do-or-die scenario on Sunday where the winner between San Francisco (23-30, 15-11 WCC) and Loyola Marymount (30-20-1, 15-11) will claim the final spot in the West Coast Conference Championship tournament.
 
"Hopefully we can relax and execute our pitches, play defense like we're capable of," San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano said. "We haven't been in the lead in this series. We haven't been in the lead since Stanford. We need to figure out some momentum."
 
The game on Sunday begins at 1 p.m. with a Senior Day celebration for the 12 graduates beginning at 12:35 p.m.
 
Before the Dons and starting pitcher Christian Cecilio could get comfortable, Loyola Marymount jumped out in front. The Lions put two aboard on an infield popup and a single and Sean Watkins made the mistake hurt as he lined one over the rightfield wall for a three-run home run.
 
"We weren't ready to play here at home," Giarratano said. "We got an easy pop up for out No. 1. I doubt they score in the first inning. That's big for Christian. We don't make the play then we make a pretty good pitch and the guy hits it down the line for a home run."
 
The Dons had a chance to get some of the runs back in the bottom half of the inning when they got back-to-back singles from Brendan Hendriks and Derek Atkinson to put two on with two outs but Dominic Miroglio then grounded into the fielder's choice to end the frame.
 
In the second, the Dons moved Matt Sinatro into scoring position with two outs and Kyle Norman hit a ball deep into the hole between shortstop and third but LMU shortstop David Fletcher picked up the ball and quickly snapped a throw to third to tag out Sinatro.
 
Cecilio settled down after the first and allowed only two runners to move into scoring position between the second and fifth. But with a runner on first in the sixth, Ted Boeke ripped a double into the right center gap to plate another and put LMU up 4-0.
 
Cecilio went seven innings and allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits with six strikeouts.
 
"They beat us with one swing of the bat in the first inning and one swing of the bat in the sixth inning," Giarratano said. "It's tough to give away the momentum that early in the game."
 
San Francisco had a chance to answer in the bottom half of the inning and put two runners on lead off the inning but, following a strikeout, Justin McCullough grounded into the 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
 
We've got to battle better offensively," Giarratano said. "We're just missing that third guy every inning to put together a good at bat or drive a runner in."
 
The Dons were 1-for-12 with runners on base and 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
 
NOTES
LMU loaded the bases with one out in the eighth and Mack Meyer came out of the bullpen to induce the 6-4-3 double play… he went the final 1.2 innings and allowed one hit… Derek Atkinson went 2-for-4… With his seven innings on Saturday, Christian Cecilio is now only three innings behind Dana Hendershott (1968-71) for the school's all-time record in innings pitched. Cecilio has thrown 329.2 innings over his four years at USF.