Feb. 14, 2003
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University baseball team began its three-game series at San Diego State with a 5-3 loss Friday night in front of 761 at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Santa Clara started the scoring in the top of the first inning as Jason Matteucci reached on a fielder's choice and was later singled home by Scott Shapiro, giving the Broncos a 1-0 lead. After reaching on the fielder's choice, Matteucci moved to second on a delayed steal and had no problem scoring on Shapriro's sharp single to left field.
San Diego State tied it up in the bottom half of the first as James Guerrero singled up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He scored on Peter Stonard's double down the left field line, but Stonard was called out by first base umpire Mike Allen on an appeal by the Broncos who claimed Stonard did not touch first base as he tried to leg out the double. The appeal was upheld and the Broncos got out of the inning on the very next pitch as Jake McLintock flied out to centerfield to end the first.
The Broncos added two more in the top of the third inning extending their lead to 3-1. Joe Diefenderfer singled to leadoff the inning and was moved to second base when A.J. LaBarbera was hit by a Joe Carque pitch. With runners at first and second, Matteucci hammered a long fly ball off the right field wall for a double, scoring both Diefenderfer and LaBarbera.
The Aztecs trimmed the SCU lead in half in the bottom of the sixth inning as Jordan Swaydan led off the inning with a single. He advanced to second on a throwing error by Shawn Epidendio on a failed pick off attempt. Swaydan scored an unearned run two batters later as Anthony Gwynn registered the team's third hit of the inning. Starting pitcher Matt Travis got out of the inning on the next batter however, getting James Guerrrero to ground into his second double play of the evening.
SDSU tied the score at three apiece in the seventh inning as Chad Corona led off the inning with a double and scored two batters later on pinch hitter Josh Allen's double down the left field line. Allen moved to third on a single from David Hall and scored one batter later when Gwynn picked up an RBI on his groundout to shortstop, giving the Aztecs their first lead of the game at 4-3.
The Broncos threatened in the top of the eighth as Shapiro singled, Jim Wallace was hit by a pitch and Michael Thompson walked, bringing up Epidendio. Relief pitcher Will Miller closed the door on the potential rally, striking out Epidendio looking to end the inning.
San Diego State added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth as Jake McLintock reached base on a single and scored one batter later as Rielly Embrey singled to left field. On the single, Diefenderfer came up with a glove full of grass, allowing McLinktock to score from first base on the error, giving the Aztecs a 5-3 lead heading into the ninth inning.
Santa Clara mounted a small rally in the ninth as Jack Headley doubled to left center field and scored two batters later on a LaBarbera single, but could score no more as Miller picked up his second save of the year.
Jensen improved to 1-0 on the season after allowing only one hit in one full inning of work while Miller picked up his second save of the year after throwing 1 1/3 innings in which he allowed one run on two hits. Starter Joe Carque threw 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits while walking three and striking out one.
Anthony Rea took the loss for the Broncos as he allowed one run and two hits while facing only two batters in relief. Travis threw 6 1/3 innings in which he allowed only two earned runs on three hits while striking out five and walking none. Chad Fillinger threw the final 1 2/3 innings, allowing one unearned run on two hits to go with his one strikeout.
The Broncos dropped to 5-5 on the year while the Aztecs improved to 4-4. The same two teams will play game two of the series Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.