SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball lost just its second midweek game of the season Tuesday night at Cal Poly. The Broncos took the first lead of the game in the second and the Mustangs responded with three runs in the third to pull in front for good en route to a 6-2 win at Baggett Stadium.
Santa Clara and Cal Poly split their two games this season; the Broncos (19-23) took down the Mustangs (26-17) 10-1 on April 5 at Schott Stadium.
"Our guys competed hard, and it was great to see guys capitalize on their opportunities in the lineup tonight, but unfortunately those things are overshadowed by another poor defensive effort once again," head coach Dan O'Brien said. "You must take care of the baseball if you want to win ballgames. That's the bottom line."
The Broncos got five of their seven hits from the first three batters in the order; Kyle Cortopassi and Evan Haberle each went 2-for-4 and Kert Woods went 1-for-3 with a walk. Braden Frankfort hit an RBI sacrifice fly to left field in the second and Haberle grounded into an RBI fielder's choice in the fifth for Santa Clara's second run. Matt Smithwick tallied the first multi-hit game of his career.
Michael Sanderson hit a two-run double and Kevin Morgan added an RBI single for the Mustangs as part of a three-run third inning. Cal Poly added two runs in the seventh when Dylan Doherty hit an RBI double to left and the ball got under the glove of TC Florentine for an error that allowed an additional run to score. Doherty walked in a run against Max Kuhns in the eighth.
Santa Clara starter Travis Howard (L, 2-3) allowed three earned runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 3.0 innings. Cal Poly's Bobby Ay (W, 1-0) held the Broncos to two runs (one earned) on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts in 6.0 innings. The Mustang bullpen shut out the Broncos over the final three innings — Spencer Howard struck out all four batters he faced and Justin Calomeni (SV, 7) issued a perfect ninth inning.
The Broncos head to Stockton for a three-game series at Pacific this weekend, beginning with a 7 p.m. first pitch Friday.
GAME NOTES: First pitch was at 6:01 p.m. … time of the game was 3:05 … attendance was 551.
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