SEATTLE — Santa Clara baseball lost the rubber match of a nonconference series 4-1 at Washington Sunday afternoon. The Broncos struck first and Jason Seever pitched a quality start, but the Huskies broke a 1-1 tie with a three-run seventh on their way to winning the series.
Seever allowed an unearned run on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts in 6.0 innings for the Broncos (6-6). The lefthander held the Huskies (6-4) to 1-for-8 with runners on base and 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. In three starts this season, Seever has a 2.04 ERA — the lowest of all Santa Clara starters — and 18 strikeouts in 17.2 innings.
Washington loaded the bases against Ryan Budnick (L, 0-1) with no outs in the seventh, and Santa Clara's Freddie Erlandson issued a wild pitch that allowed Dallas Tessar to score the go-ahead run. Pinch-hitter KJ Brady hit an RBI single in the same at-bat, and Kyle London followed with an RBI sacrifice fly for the inning's third run.
Husky starter Spencer Jones allowed an earned run on two hits with a walk and eight strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Alex Nesbitt (W, 1-1) pitched a scoreless seventh and Troy Rallings (SV, 3) retired six of the seven batters he faced to earn the multi-inning save.
Outside of the seventh, the game's only other runs were scored in the third. TC Florentine led off the top half of the inning with a double, and came around to score on Grant Meylan's RBI squeeze bunt with two outs. Jack Meggs scored the only run charged to Seever on a passed ball with two outs in the home half of the inning.
With the game tied 1-1 in the seventh, Kert Woods doubled and Kyle Cortopassi was thrown out at home after starting the play at first base. Woods and Cortopassi each had one of Santa Clara's four hits. Meggs and MJ Hubbs tallied two hits apiece for Washington.
Santa Clara returns to Schott Stadium for a four-game series against UMass Lowell that begins Friday at 6 p.m.
GAME NOTES: First pitch was at 2 p.m. … time of the game was 2:30 … attendance was 410 … the start of Sunday's series finale was delayed two hours due to rainy conditions in Seattle … Santa Clara and Washington were originally scheduled to play four games over the weekend, and played three due to inclement weather.
