STANFORD, Calif. - The Santa Clara baseball team fell to 4-4 on the season after falling to No. 9 Stanford, 8-4, tonight on the road at Sunken Diamond.
The Broncos got on the board in the first inning with an RBI-single from freshman standout Kyle DeMerritt, who continued his excellent play at the plate going 2-for-5 on the night with two RBIs.
The Cardinal responded with three runs in the bottom of the first off starting pitcher Joe Supple, who went 2.1 innings.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Stanford took control of the game, scoring four runs to make it 7-1 courtesy of two back-to-back RBI-doubles, once which scored two runs, and a RBI-single.
Santa Clara recovered one run in the top of the fifth off A.J. Talt, who relieved freshman starter A.J. Vanegas at the start of the fifth inning, and trailed by five runs heading into the sixth inning.
The Cardinal scored its final run in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Broncos added two more in the seventh to put the final score at 8-4.
Vanegas (1-0) earned his first career win while Supple (0-1) was charged with the loss. Santa Clara used four pitchers on the night in addition to Supple, including freshman Max Deering, redshirt junior Jason Westerberg, junior Paul Twining, and junior J.R. Graham. Westerberg and Graham struck out two batters each and Graham did not allow a hit in his one inning of work.
The Broncos will return to the diamond on Friday to begin a three-game series with local rival San Jose State. Friday and Sunday's games will be at San Jose State, while Santa Clara will host the Spartans on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Schott Stadium.
Game Notes: The Broncos left 11 runners stranded compared to Stanford's four … Sophomore Matt Ozanne stole one base to bring his season total to a team-leading six stolen bags and went 3-for-4 at the plate … Junior Lucas Herbst was 2-for-4 …. Santa Clara was one hit short of recording its fifth-straight game of double-digit hitting.
