SEATTLE — In a pair of close baseball contests between Santa Clara and Washington, ninth-inning hitting made the difference Saturday at Husky Ballpark. The Broncos edged the Huskies in Game 1 on the strength of a home run from John Cresto and Jack Meggs helped Washington walk off for a 10-9 win with an RBI single in Game 2.
Each of the game-winning hits came with two outs in the ninth inning. The Broncos (6-5) and the Huskies (5-4) both trailed in the seventh inning of their respective victories. They will play for the series Sunday at noon.
GAME 1: Cresto's Late Homers Power Broncos to 2-1 Victory
Cresto hit two late home runs — his second of the day broke a tie game with two outs in the ninth — as the Broncos rallied to take Game 1 of the doubleheader.
Mitchell White delivered a big performance in a pitchers' duel against Washington ace Noah Bremer. White allowed an earned run on six hits in 7.0 innings and matched a career-best effort with nine strikeouts. The San Jose, Calif. native dealt a trio of 1-2-3 frames and retired seven straight batters to end his outing.
Bremer allowed only three Broncos to reach base safely in 8.2 innings and matched White's effort with nine strikeouts and no walks. He retired 17 of 18 batters from the third until his departure with two outs in the ninth; Cresto's leadoff homer in the seventh was Santa Clara's only hit during that span. Neither starting pitcher factored into the decisions.
With two outs and bases empty in the ninth, Washington called on Spencer Jones (L, 1-1) to face Cresto, and the Bronco shortstop hit Jones' first pitch of the afternoon over the fence in left-center. Nick Medeiros (W, 1-0) struck out the side in the eighth and Max Kuhns (SV, 5) pitched through a one-out walk to close down the contest. Stevie Berman caught potential game-tying run Karl Kani attempting to steal second base for the final out of the game.
The Huskies drove in the game's opening run on back-to-back, two-out hits in the second. AJ Graffanino doubled and Kyle London hit an RBI single to put the hosts in front. London tied Cresto with a game-high two hits.
GAME 2: Washington Takes Early Lead, Rallies for Walkoff Win
Santa Clara used a seven-run fourth and added a run in the sixth to take a 9-7 lead, then surrendered three runs in the last four innings of the Game 2 loss.
Facing a 7-1 deficit in the fourth, the Broncos had six different players drive in a run for its highest-scoring inning of the season, which Jake Brodt capped with an RBI single. Berman led off the sixth with his third home run of the season to give the Broncos their biggest lead of the doubleheader at 9-7.
MJ Hubbs hit an RBI groundout for Washington to match Berman's home run in the home sixth, and KJ Brady tied the game at nine with an RBI sacrifice fly in the eighth. Hubbs led all batters with four RBIs and Berman topped the Broncos with three RBIs. Berman, Kyle Cortopassi and Kert Woods each had two hits in Game 2.
Chris Baker led off the Husky ninth with a single, and the Broncos recorded force outs at second on each of the next two plays. With two outs and a runner on first, Kuhns (L, 0-1) delivered a wild pitch for ball four to London, which allowed pinch-runner Levi Jordan to advance from first to third. Meggs followed with an RBI single through the right side to score Jordan and give Washington the win.
The Husky bullpen held the Broncos to an earned run on three hits in 4.1 innings. Santa Clara plated eight earned runs on seven hits against Washington starter Joe DeMers. Bronco starter Steven Wilson allowed seven runs (four earned) on nine hits with no walks and three strikeouts in 3.0 innings.
After Berman's RBI groundout put the Broncos ahead in the first, Washington scored seven runs on nine hits to take a 7-1 lead through two innings. Hubbs hit a three-run homer in the first and Josh Cushing went deep for a two-run homer in the second as part of the rally.
DOUBLEHEADER NOTES: First pitch of Game 1 was 11 a.m. … time of Game 1 was 2:12 … first pitch of Game 2 was 1:50 p.m. … time of Game 2 was 3:30 … Santa Clara and Washington exceeded the hit and run totals from Game 1 (nine hits, three runs) by the second out of the bottom of the second inning in Game 2 (11 hits, eight runs) … five of Santa Clara's 11 games this season have been decided by two runs or fewer ... doubleheader attendance was 690.
