SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball plated four straight runs to win 5-2 and even its West Coast Conference series with the Gonzaga Bulldogs Saturday night at Schott Stadium. The Broncos scored in four separate innings and had eight of nine starters record a hit in the victory.
Eric Lex made the start and allowed two earned runs on 11 hits with two walks and a strikeout in 5.0+ innings for the Broncos (17-24, 5-12 WCC). The Bulldogs (20-20, 10-10 WCC) put at least one runner in scoring position in four of five innings against Lex, including a four-hit, scoreless first. Gonzaga starter Hunter Wells (L, 1-4) took the loss in 3.1 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits with a walk and no strikeouts.
"I thought Lex had an incredibly mature outing, considering he's a freshman," head coach Dan O'Brien said. "He wasn't necessarily sharp today, but he kept attacking the zone and used his defense — our guys played great behind him. They were getting hits, but a lot of them were ground ball hits. That's all we're asking of our pitcher — use the defense and issue ground balls."
T.J. Braff hit a one-out triple off the center field wall in the second inning for his team-leading third three-bagger of the season. Jake Brodt drove in the Bronco left fielder with an RBI single to open the scoring at 1-0. Brodt led the Bronco offense by going 2-for-4 with two RBIs, while leadoff hitter Grant Meylan and catcher Braden Frankfort each posted two hits in the victory.
Gonzaga responded by using three straight singles to load the bases in the top of the third. Lex issued a pop out into foul territory and a fly ball out to shallow left field to keep the runners in place with two outs. Joey Harris followed with a two-run, bloop single to right field to put the visitors in front 2-1. Sam Brown and Taylor Jones each posted three hits for Gonzaga, while Justin Jacobs and Cory LeBrun recorded two hits apiece; the No. 2 through No. 5 Bulldog batters combined for 10 of the team's 13 base hits.
Santa Clara scored three runs in a two-inning stretch to take a 4-2 lead through the end of the fifth. Braff was thrown out on a close play at first for an RBI groundout which tied the game, and Brodt gave the Broncos a 3-2 lead with an RBI single immediately following Braff in the fourth. One inning later, Kyle Cortopassi hit a two-out, RBI double down the left field line for a three-run lead.
"I thought yesterday we had a great day at the plate, and that's the first thing we talked about," O'Brien said. "Maybe the scoreboard didn't show it, but our at-bats were outstanding the entire night. That's baseball. Today, we got some results from the same thing the hitters did last night … whether we're getting hits or not, as long as we're consistent in having quality at-bats, then we're happy."
Pinch hitter Beau Bozett led off the sixth with a full count walk and Dustin Breshears singled to put runners on first and second with no outs for the Bulldogs. Max Kuhns relieved Lex and issued a fly ball out to center before a 1-6-3 inning-ending double play; Sam Brown hit a hard ground ball that deflected off the glove of Kuhns, and shortstop Jose Vizcaino, Jr. scooped it up, tagged second base and threw on to first to end the inning.
Frankfort led off the Bronco seventh with his second single of the game, and came around to score on Meylan's RBI triple to right center field to make the lead 5-2. The Broncos scored four straight runs and Kuhns retired all eight batters he faced through the end of the eighth inning, finishing with one strikeout in 3.0 innings.
"We give our lineup card to the player of the game and we could have given it to five different guys tonight," O'Brien said. "We gave the lineup card to Kuhns because we needed someone to step up from the bullpen and that's exactly what he did. He deserved to be the player of the game."
Mitchell White took the hill for Kuhns in the ninth inning and struck out the first two batters he faced. The Bulldogs used back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners, and White (SV, 1) got Justin Jacobs to pop up to the Bronco first baseman Brodt in foul territory to end the game with the potential game-tying run at the plate and earn his first career save.
Santa Clara and Gonzaga meet again Sunday with the series on the line. Bronco LHP Evan Brisentine (2-3, 4.46 ERA) faces Gonzaga RHP Brandon Bailey (6-1, 2.53 ERA).
Game Notes: First pitch was at 6:06 p.m. … time of game was 2:47 … attendance was 352.