SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara baseball lost both games in Saturday's doubleheader to Purdue, falling 8-7 in game one and 10-5 in game two. The Boilermakers swept the four-game series.
Game 1: Purdue 8, Santa Clara 7
The Boilermakers overcame a three-run deficit and scored in five of the last six innings of the game to secure the win. Cameron Williams earned the win, throwing 1.0 innings in relief, allowing an earned run and two hits. Dalton Parker recorded the save. Freshman right-handed pitcher Brandon Buckley threw 2.0 innings in relief and received the loss. He allowed two earned runs on two hits, one walk and one strikeout.
The Broncos took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Junior right fielder Grant Meylan singled to left field to get things started for the Broncos. With the bases loaded, sophomore third baseman John Cresto delivered with a single through the right side to score Meylan. To cap the inning off, freshman center fielder Andre Nnebe doubled down the left field line to score sophomore shortstop Austin Reyes and Cresto.
Purdue tied the game up in the top of the fourth inning but Santa Clara regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning off a solo shot to left center by Nnebe, his second dinger of the season.
The Boilermakers once again took the lead in the top of the fifth inning on a double that scored two runs. Freshman second baseman Zach Walsh homered in the bottom half of the inning to give SCU a 6-5 lead. That was Walsh's first-career home run.
Purdue scored one run in both the seventh and eighth innings to take a 7-6 lead. Cresto knotted things up at 7 in the bottom of the eighth with a solo shot of his own to left field. That marked his fourth home run of the season and the 10th of his career.
In the top of the ninth with Buckley on the mound, Purdue led the inning off with a double. Buckley then issued a walk and hit batter before the Boilermakers scored the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly to left field.
Game 2: Purdue 10, Santa Clara 5
Like game one, Santa Clara led first in the ballgame but the Boilermakers came from behind to win by scoring in six of the last seven innings. Kyle Schweiger earned his second win of the season, throwing one inning in relief and allowing two earned runs while also walking two batters and striking out two. Freshman right-handed pitcher Bryson Spagnuolo was dealt the loss. He started the game for the Broncos, throwing 4.0 innings and allowing six earned runs (seven total) on four hits, three walks and he struck out five batters.
Junior designated hitter Niko Holm doubled in the bottom of the first inning to score Cresto and put SCU in front 1-0. Purdue responded with a solo home run in the top of the second to tie the ball game.
The Boilermakers took the lead in the top of the fourth inning and did not relinquish it. They put four runs on the board, starting with a bases clearing double by Skyler Hunter. Hunter then scored a suicide squeeze play by Evan Warden to give Purdue a 5-1 lead.
SCU tacked on two unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut lead the 5-3. Senior left fielder Tyler Meditz scored on a failed pickoff attempt and then junior catcher Lucas Eliason hit a sacrifice fly to score Walsh.
Purdue put two more runs of its own on the board in the top of the fifth. The first run came off on an RBI single by Mike Madej while the second run came on an error that scored Madej and was unearned.
Madej hit an RBI single in the top of the sixth inning to extend the lead to 8-3 but the Broncos responded with two of their own in the bottom of the inning. Walsh hit an RBI single to score Holm. Junior Austin Fisher hit a sacrifice fly to right field that brought Meditz home and would be the final run for the Broncos.
Purdue scored a run in the eighth and an unearned run in the ninth to lead 10-5.
Up Next: Santa Clara begins West Coast Conference action on Friday at 6 p.m. PT by hosting San Diego for a three-game series.
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