LOS ANGELES — Santa Clara baseball jumped out to a 4-0 lead through the first three innings Saturday night at Page Stadium before Loyola Marymount rallied to even the series with a 6-5 extra-inning win. The Lions scored three runs with two outs in the fifth and walked off on an RBI triple down the left field line from David Fletcher in the 10th.
Santa Clara is 0-3 in extra-inning games this season, with all three losses by one run including two walkoffs. LMU reliever J.D. Busfield (W, 1-0) struck out one batter in the extra frame while Reece Karalus (L, 1-3) allowed one earned run in 3.0 innings on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
Grant Meylan led off the game with a four-pitch walk and came around to score on a wild pitch by LMU starter Trevor Megill in the opening inning. During the same at-bat, T.J. Braff drove in one of his team-best three RBIs with a-one out single to increase the lead to 2-0. The Broncos (8-9, 1-1 WCC) have scored four runs in the first inning — two runs Friday and two more Saturday — through two games of their series with the Lions (10-9, 1-1 WCC).
In the third, Jose Vizcaino, Jr. hit an RBI single to give the Broncos a 3-0 advantage. Megill allowed four earned runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 2.0+ innings before giving way to reliever Cory Abbott. After issuing a bases-loaded walk to Braff with no outs, Abbott retired 14 batters in a row through his departure at the end of the seventh; he finished with six strikeouts in 5.0 innings pitched.
Bronco starting pitcher Kevin George allowed five runs (two earned) on seven hits with three walks and a career-high eight strikeouts in 6.2 innings. George retired nine in a row before a pair of two-out errors kept the Lion fifth inning alive, the second of which put LMU on the board when Austin Miller crossed home plate. Joe Christian followed with a two-run single to pull the hosts within one run at 4-3.
Fletcher's squeeze bunt up the first base line drove in Miller to make the score 4-4 in the seventh. LMU took its first lead of the series two batters later on Christian's RBI double.
The Broncos evened the score one inning later when Braff hit a two-out RBI to score Meylan and make it a 5-5 ballgame. Santa Clara threatened with the bases loaded in the ninth and put a runner in scoring position in the contest's only extra frame, but could not drive across the go-ahead run.
Braff led the Broncos with three hits and three RBIs while Meylan reached base four times and scored three runs for the Broncos. Fletcher led all batters with four hits and recorded two RBIs and two runs scored. Miller went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and Christian tied Braff with a game-high three RBIs.
The Broncos and Lions play with the series on the line Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. from Page Stadium.
GAME NOTES: First pitch was at 6:03 p.m. … time of game was 3:44 ... attendance was 376.
