Written by John Nash '13
Moraga, Calif.- Santa Clara (14-18 overall, 2-4 WCC) dropped their series finale to Bay Area rival Saint Mary's (15-16, 3-3) 8-3. Powell Fansler (3-2) took the hill for the Broncos, giving up three earned runs over 4.2 innings pitched. Jason Westerberg pitched well out of the bullpen, striking out three and allowing no base runners in 1.1 innings of work.
Lucas Herbst and Justin Viele both provided two hits at the top of the order for the Broncos. Kyle Demeritt cashed in an RBI double, a day after he provided the game winning hit. Zack Looney provided the only other two hits for the Broncos.
The Broncos will return home for a mid-week clash with No. 17 Stanford on Tuesday, Apr., 19th. First Santa Clara will then travel to San Francisco Thursday, Apr. 21st, to continue their conference slate.
Santa Clara went down silently in the first, but the Gaels cashed in their first run of the game in the bottom half as Richard Boas scored on a fielder's choice.
SCU again wasn't able to muster a base runner in the second, and Gaels increased their lead to two as Toby DeMello registered an RBI on a sacrifice bunt.
The Broncos answered in the third, as Looney opened the inning with an infield hit. Stephen Takahashi bunted Zach Looney over to second and Blake Levya grounded out to the pitcher. Herbst came up with a two-out RBI single, and Viele singled to left field. Demeritt doubled to center to score Herbst, but despite loading the bases the Broncos were unable to push anymore runs across in the inning.
Both teams remained hitless until the fifth, when Viele came through with a two-out single.
The Gaels struck in the bottom half registering three runs, knocking Fansler out of the game. Boas picked up an RBI single, and Justin Fazio drilled a two-run double to center to give the Gaels a 5-2 lead.
The Broncos cut the lead to one in the 7th, as Looney doubled down the line to start the inning. Looney scored two batters later on an error by Troy Channing at first.
The Gaels opened the game opened the bottom half, scoring three more runs. Shawn O'Brien and Toby Channing registered RBI singles, and DeMello scored on an error. Westerberg got the Broncos out of a jam, striking out Brenden Kalfus looking.
Westerberg pitched a hitless eighth while striking out two for the Broncos.
Game Notes: Chris Mendoza pitched two innings out of the bullpen, giving up three runs, none of those earned…The Broncos had three errors on the day, allowing only three earned runs in total…DeMerritt finished the series 5-11 at the plate with 3 RBI's… Kyle Barraclough picked up the win for the Gaels, going 8 innings pitched while only allowing two earned runs.
