NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In a twin bill that lasted a combined seven hours and 53 minutes, the Santa Clara Broncos and No. 1 Vanderbilt Commodores split a pair of one-run games at Hawkins Field Saturday. Santa Clara scored two runs in the ninth to win Game 1 7-6 and Vanderbilt walked off against a five-man infield in the 10th inning for a 6-5 victory in the nightcap.
The Broncos finished the first weekend of play at 1-2 after the doubleheader, and the Commodores improved to 2-1. Santa Clara travels to UC Davis Tue., Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. ahead of its 2015 home opener with Cincinnati Fri., Feb. 20 at 6 p.m.
Temperatures from Game 1 to Game 2 ranged from the low 50s to mid 20s with a wind chill as low as 15 degrees by the end of the night.
"These guys competed for 28 innings straight in a tough environment and in tough conditions," head coach Dan O'Brien said. "They never took an inning off and didn't give in the whole night. That's toughness."
GAME 1: Broncos win back-and-forth battle 7-6
Santa Clara and Vanderbilt combined to score runs in eight of the first game's nine innings, including two for the Broncos in the ninth of a 7-6 victory. The Broncos led 5-4 heading into the bottom of the eighth, when reigning College World Series Most Outstanding Player Dansby Swanson hit a two-run single up the middle to put the Commodores ahead 6-5.
Needing a run to stay alive in the ninth, Santa Clara tied the game at 6-6 when Grant Meylan scored on a one-out wild pitch that allowed Jose Vizcaino, Jr. to advance to third. Later in the at-bat, Vanderbilt pitcher Hayden Stone skipped a pitch short of home plate on a Santa Clara squeeze attempt. The wild pitch came in for a strike as Ryan Budnick attempted to bunt a ball that hit the turf. Vizcaino, Jr. broke for home on the pitch and dove in safely just before catcher Jason Delay retrieved the ball and attempted to make the tag.
Reece Karalus (W, 1-0) returned to the mound for his second inning of relief and struck out the Vanderbilt side for a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the victory. The Bronco closer — who tied for the team lead with six wins last season — threw 2.0 innings and struck out four while allowing two earned runs on four hits.
Stone (L, 0-1) finished with the loss in one inning of relief, allowing two earned runs on one hit with a walk and two strikeouts. In his first start since April 19, 2014, Steven Wilson threw 6.0 innings and allowed three earned runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and three walks for a quality start.
Vanderbilt opened the scoring with a two-run first that featured an RBI groundout from Rhett Wiseman and a wild pitch that allowed Ro Coleman to score from second. Santa Clara rebounded in the second on a bases-loaded walk issued by Commodore starting pitcher John Kilichowski to Meylan, making the score 2-1. Kilichowski allowed four earned runs on five hits with a walk and three strikeouts in 3.2 innings.
Wiseman came around to score in the third on a single by Zander Wiel to increase to home team's lead to 3-1. Santa Clara took its first lead of the series in the fourth with RBI efforts from Kyle Cortopassi on a double down the left field line, Joe Becht on a groundout and TC Florentine on a single. They added to the one-run lead when TJ Braff scored on a wild pitch one inning later.
After the two-run first, Wilson held Vanderbilt to one run over the next five innings, including three straight scoreless frames prior to his exit after the sixth. The Broncos put together a stellar defensive effort in the sixth; Florentine made a sliding catch at the track in deep left center with no outs and a runner on first. Following the fly out, Cortopassi caught Tyler Campbell trying to steal second and Wilson capped the outing by striking out Karl Ellison.
Vizcaino, Jr., Brodt and Cortopassi each went 2-for-4 and four different Broncos drove in a run in the Game 1 victory. Swanson was a perfect 4-for-4 with a walk, two RBIs and two runs scored and Wiel chipped in a pair of RBIs for the Commodores.
"This weekend made us tougher, and toughness is something we've spent a lot of time taking about with this group," O'Brien said. "It'll pay off for them if they handle adversity the way they did this weekend."
GAME 2: Santa Clara falls in extras of series finale
The Broncos took their momentum from the first game into Game 2 and jumped out to a 5-2 lead by the end of the fourth inning. Brodt scored the first Bronco run on a wild pitch by Vanderbilt starter Tyler Ferguson with two outs in the second inning. Ferguson threw 2.0 innings and allowed three runs (one earned) on one hit with five walks and a strikeout.
Penn Murfee and Delay drove in one run apiece as part of a two-run Commodore second and Santa Clara answered with three runs on two errors and a double play in the third to take a 4-2 lead. Vizcaino, Jr. singled to score Evan Haberle and extend the advantage to 5-2 in the fourth.
As the last batter to face Peter Hendron, Wiseman hit the only home run of the weekend — a two-run shot to right — to pull Vanderbilt within one in fifth. Hendron finished with a line of 4.0+ innings, four earned runs on eight hits with two strikeouts and three walks. After a Campbell RBI groundout tied the game at 5-5, Nick Medeiros issued a groundout to Swanson with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Mitchell White made his Bronco debut in the sixth and retired the side with two strikeouts — he then made it four-up-four-down with a fly out to start the seventh. Kevin George threw two relief innings in his second appearance of the day and Karalus (L, 1-1) was dealt the loss in 0.2 innings of work.
Over the last five frames, the Broncos were held scoreless despite putting a runner in scoring position with less than one out three separate times. The Commodores used a pair of singles from Delay and Swanson in the ninth to set up runners on the corners with no outs. The Broncos brought in Austin Fisher to set up a five-man infield, and Coleman hit a hard ground ball that bounced off Becht at second for a fielding error that scored pinch runner Jeren Kendall to seal the walkoff win 6-5.
Vizcaino, Jr. led the Bronco offense by going 2-for-2 with four walks, a run scored and the team's lone RBI. Meylan, Florentine and Haberle each drew a pair of walks. In his Vanderbilt debut, Murfee reached base five times on a 3-for-3 night with an RBI and two walks. Wiseman, Bryan Reynolds and Delay each picked up two hits and Wiseman was the only player to drive in multiple runs with two.
"It's one thing to have good team depth, which we have, but what I love about this ballclub is that they all play for each other," O'Brien said. "Guys were picking eachother up all over the yard this weekend. This is a special group."
DOUBLEHEADER NOTES: First pitch of Game 1 was at 12:05 p.m. CST … time of game was 3:45 … first pitch of Game 2 was at 4:23 CST … time of game was 4:08 … attendance for the two games was 2,754.
