SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Trying to rebound from a tough weekend series at San Diego, Santa Clara baseball beat Brown University by a score of 3-0. With the win Santa Clara is now 14-7 overall while Brown drops to 1-12.
LHP Powell Fansler (5-1; 2.45) made the start and picked up a win by pitching 7.0 innings while allowing no runs on four hits and no walks. He struck out four batters. CF Matt Ozanne was 2-3 with a double and 2B Evan Peters had two hits as well. SS Justin Viele went 1-3 with three RBI.
The Broncos and Bears will play again today with first pitch scheduled for 30 minutes after the end of game one, weather permitting.
"We spent a lot of time this morning narrowing our focus," said Santa Clara head coach Dan O'Brien. "We talked about paying more attention to details and taking the emotions out of the game. We wanted to buckle it down and play a solid game of baseball and that's exactly what the guys did. If we do the exact same thing the rest of the season, we'll win a lot of ballgames."
Santa Clara had a scoring chance in the first frame when LF Pat Stover was hit by a pitch and DH Peter Summerville singled up the middle. A double steal put runners on second and third with two outs but 1B Andrew Biancardi flew out to left field to end the inning.
The first two Broncos reached in the bottom of the third when C Quinton Perry walked and went to third on a hit and run single by RF Lucas Herbst. SS Justin Viele hit a hard grounder to third but the throw home was wide and the first run of the game scored. With runners on first and second and no outs, Stover hit into a 6-4-3 double play. Summerville grounded out for the third out.
3B Nick Fornaca got the first Brown hit on an infield single to shortstop. After C Wes Van Boom hit a double play ball and 2B Evan Peters dropped to feed to put runners on first and second, Peters and Viele turned a beautiful double play to end the inning.
LF Matt DeRenzi led off the top of the fifth with a single up the middle, just past the diving Viele. 2B David St. Lawrence followed with a sacrifice bunt to advanced the runner and 1B Nate Kukowski singled to center to put runners on the corners with one out. With SS J.J. Franco at the plate DeRenzi took off for home on a suicide squeeze but Santa Clara pitched out. The throw down to third hit the runner but Glomb recovered and threw out the runner at home. Kukowski advanced from first to third on the play. Franco hit a grounder up the middle that Viele made a sliding play to his left to snag and Biancardi picked the throw in the dirt to keep Brown off the board.
Perry drew a lead off walk n the bottom of the fifth inning and was lifted for pinch runner Zach Looney. RF Stephen Meade tried to sacrifice Looney to second but popped up the bunt and Looney was doubled up. Viele drew a two-out walk but Stover flew out to end the inning.
The Broncos put two on with no outs in the bottom of the seventh before Meade sacrificed both runners up. Viele came through with a single through the left side to knock in two runs to make the score 3-0 Broncos and advanced to second on a bobble by the left fielder. RHP Taylor Wright came in to pitch for the Bears and got Stover to fly out to center. Viele was caught stealing to end the frame.
LHP Max Deering pitched the eighth and ninth innings to pick up his second save on the season. In the ninth he got a lead-off line-out to right after a long at-bat. A groundout to third and after an infield single to shortstop, a strikeout ended the game and gave the Broncos a 3-0 victory.
Game Notes: First pitch was at 1:00 p.m. ... Stephen Meade pinch-ran for Lucas Herbst in the bottom of the third ... Matt Ozanne stole second in the bottom of the sixth ... Greg Harisis came in as a pinch runner for Evan Peters in the seventh ... Peter Summerville fouled a ball off his face and was lifted for pinch hitter Drew Ozanne who was caught looking with a 3-2 count... Summerville was credited with Ozanne's strikeout due to scoring regulations for a pinch hitter with two strikes.