SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In a game that featured 25 hits, Santa Clara baseball jumped out to an early lead before UC Davis scored six runs in the seventh to win 9-7 Tuesday night at Schott Stadium. Each team scored at least one run in each of its first three innings and the six-run Aggie seventh broke a string of three straight scoreless frames.
Tanner Bily led off the ballgame with a double for the Aggies (26-16-1) and came in to score on an RBI single from Nick Lynch. Santa Clara starting pitcher Steven Wilson picked Lynch off of second base and got Izaak Silva to ground out for the final out of the inning. Wilson allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits with a walk and no strikeouts for the Broncos (18-25) in 2.1 innings.
Santa Clara plated three runs in consecutive at-bats in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 lead. Stevie Berman hit a ground ball that ricocheted off the foot of UC Davis starting pitcher Matt Blais and rolled to left field, allowing Jose Vizcaino, Jr. to score from second base. T.J. Braff followed with a two-run homer — his fourth of the season — to left field. Blais allowed six earned runs on eight hits with no walks and a strikeout to finish with a no decision in 2.1 innings.
Austin March crossed home plate for the Aggies on a passed ball in the third to make the score 3-2. Santa Clara regained its two-run lead in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI push bunt single by Grant Meylan that got to UC Davis second baseman Tino Lipson with nobody to cover first base.
Silva lined out to right field for a sacrifice fly to pull the visitors back within one run at 4-3 in the top of the third. Jose Vizcaino, Jr. led off the home third with a home run to straightaway center field — his team leading seventh long ball of the season. Three batters later, Jake Brodt hit an RBI triple to the right center gap to make the score 6-3.
Bily led off the seventh with a single and Lipson walked to put runners on first and second with no outs against Josh Inouye. The Broncos called on Nick Medeiros, who walked consecutive batters — including a bases-loaded free pass to Silva that made the score 6-4. March hit an RBI single to right that had all runners move up one base and Cameron Olson followed with a grand slam to center field that gave the Aggies their first lead of the game since the first inning at 9-6.
Medeiros (L, 1-1) allowed four earned runs on three hits with two walks and a strikeout in 2.0 innings. Spencer Henderson (W, 2-1) earned the win in relief by allowing an earned run on four hits with no walks and five strikeouts in 5.2 innings. Freshmen Michael Bono and Mitchell White each pitched a scoreless frame for the Broncos.
In the seventh, Vizcaino, Jr. and Berman hit a pair of infield singles; Berman's bounced off Aggie shortstop Evan Heptig on a head-high hop and into the outfield, allowing Vizcaino, Jr. to reach third base. Braff hit his team-leading third RBI of the night on a sacrifice fly to make the score 9-7 and Brodt grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Berman doubled with two outs for one of his team-best four hits. Braff stepped to the plate representing the potential game-tying run and grounded out to second base to end the contest. Zach Stone (SV, 10) earned his 10th save of the season for UC Davis by retiring three of the four batters he faced.
Berman went 4-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored in his third four-hit game of the season for Santa Clara. Vizcaino, Jr. went 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored. Braff went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored and TC Florentine went 2-for-3 with a run scored. Four different Broncos had a hit through the first five innings of the game.
The Broncos begin an eight-game road trip when they travel to Moraga, Calif. for the first of a three-game West Coast Conference series with the Saint Mary's Gaels Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
GAME NOTES: First pitch was at 6:02 p.m. … time of game was 3:00 … attendance was 232 … Braff's home run ended up stuck in the chain-link fence of the Bronco batting cages past left field.