SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball overcame a 4-0 first-inning deficit by scoring nine of the final 10 runs Friday night to defeat Pacific 9-5 at Schott Stadium. Three Bronco batters recorded three or more hits as Santa Clara took the opening game of the series in comeback fashion.
The Broncos (12-12, 3-4 WCC) are on a four-game winning streak, with the first and last games of the streak coming in West Coast Conference play.
The Tigers (4-19, 3-4 WCC) drove in four runs in the top of the first and needed only two hitters to open the scoring; Tyler Sullivan led off the game with a triple and Justin Thaxton singled to right to make the score 1-0 Pacific. Gio Brusa brought home the second run of the game on an RBI double to left, followed by an RBI single from Louis Mejia and an RBI double from Nate Verlin in consecutive two-out at-bats. Brusa led the Tigers with two RBIs and four Pacific batters posted multiple hits on the evening.
Steven Wilson made the start for the Broncos and allowed five earned runs on 10 hits with a walk and three strikeouts in 6.2 innings. Following the four-run first, Wilson (W, 3-2) held the Tigers to one run on five hits through his final 5.2 innings. Sean Bennetts (L, 0-4) allowed six runs (three earned) on eight hits with a walk and two strikeouts as the Pacific starter.
Jose Vizcaino, Jr. hit his fifth home run of the season — a two-out, two-run shot that cleared the batting cages beyond left field — to put the Broncos on the board in the third. With two outs and the bases empty, Stevie Berman reached third when Mejia charged in from his position in deep left field and misplayed a fly ball for an error. One batter later, T.J. Braff hit an RBI single to right to pull the hosts within one run at 4-3. As a team, the Broncos hit 6-for-14 and drove in four runs with two outs in the victory.
After a scoreless fourth, Braff tied the game at 4-4 in the fifth with an RBI sacrifice fly to right. Kyle Cortopassi doubled to left in the sixth to give the Broncos their first lead of the game and Vizcaino, Jr. hit an RBI triple down the right field line to make the score 6-4 later in the inning.
Vizcaino, Jr. posted a career high four hits alongside three RBIs and three runs scored; he finished a double shy of the cycle. Braff went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, and is 7-for-9 with seven RBIs in his last two games. Cortopassi finished the night at 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Pacific's Dallas Correa led off the seventh with a single before Tyler Sullivan grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to clear the bases. Thaxton and Brett Sullivan hit two-out singles against Wilson, and Brusa followed with an RBI single up the middle as the first batter to face Bronco reliever Jason Seever, which pulled Pacific within a run at 6-5. Santa Clara called on Nick Medeiros after the Brusa single, and the Bronco junior struck out JJ Wagner on three pitches to end the inning with the potential game-tying run at second base.
In the bottom of the seventh, TC Florentine's RBI single put the Broncos ahead 7-5. Braff added late insurance with a two-run single to center in the eighth against John Jaeger to make it a four-run lead for Santa Clara. The Broncos scored in four straight innings from the fifth to the eighth and five times in six innings from the third to the eighth Friday night.
Mitchell White struck out two batters in a scoreless eighth and Reece Karalus used seven pitches to retire the side in order and seal the Bronco victory.
Santa Clara LHP Kevin George (1-2, 3.99 ERA) faces UoP RHP Will Lydon (0-5, 4.03 ERA) in Saturday's 6 p.m. matchup at Schott Stadium.
GAME NOTES: First pitch was at 6 p.m. … time of game was 3:01 … attendance was 310.
