May 4, 2003
The Santa Clara University baseball team salvaged the series finale against Pepperdine by a score of 7-4 Sunday afternoon in Malibu, Calif. The win moves the Broncos' record to 26-24 overall and 17-7 in West Coast Conference play while the Waves drop to 31-17 overall and 19-5 in league play. Pepperdine now has a two game lead with only six games remaining in conference action.
Santa Clara took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning as Joe Diefenderfer lined a one-out double to left center, scoring Will Thompson from second. Thompson reached earlier in the inning on a walk and moved up to second on an A.J. LaBarbera sacrifice bunt.
Pepperdine answered right back in the bottom of the second inning with two runs on two hits to take a 2-1 lead heading into the third inning. Ty Harper led off the inning with a single and came around to score on the next batter as Cory Brightwell sent a RBI double to left center. Brightwell scored on two John Redmond wild pitches, giving the Waves the one run lead.
The Broncos re-took the lead in the top of the fifth inning as three-straight singles and a fielder's choice led to two runs as SCU went back up on top by a 3-2 score. Scott Dierks and Jack Headley each reached on a single before an infield single by Jason Matteucci plated Dierks to tie the score. A fielder's choice off the bat of Jim Wallace scored Headley for the one run lead.
It didn't take long for the Waves to reclaim the lead as they scored two times on three hits in the bottom half of the sixth inning as Harper continued to swing a hot bat against the Broncos, belting a two-run double to left center, scoring Brandon Daguio and Chris Kelly to give Pepperdine a 4-3 lead. Harper improved to 8-for-12 on the weekend with six RBI.
Michael Lange led off the top of the seventh inning with a single down the right field line and came home one batter later as Dierks connected on his 18th home run of the season to give SCU a 5-4 lead. Matteucci followed the big fly up with an infield single and came home on a two-run home run by Jim Wallace that increased the Broncos' lead to 7-4. The home run for Dierks was sweet revenge as he was hit by a pitch in his first two at bats while Wallace picked up his second and third RBI of the game with the big blast to left field.
Starter John Redmond threw 5 1/3 innings in which he allowed four runs on six hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Anthony Rea pitched 2/3 of an inning and allowed one hit while striking out one before giving way to Patrick Overholt.
Overholt picked up his ninth save of the season as he shut down the Waves in the final three innings, giving Rea his first win of the season.
Robbie Hobbs takes the loss for the Waves as he allowed four runs on four hits in just 1/3 of an inning in the seventh inning.
Santa Clara returns to action next week with four games, three of which are at home. The Broncos travel to Sacramento State on Tuesday before returning home for a three-game series at home against Gonzaga over the weekend.