SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Pacific smacked three home runs and received a solid pitching performance Ricky Reynoso to avoid a sweep in its three-game series with Santa Clara baseball.
James Free, the team's top offensive threat, clouted two homers, including a tremendous two-run shot to left field in the sixth to snap a scoreless tie, Danny Mayer added a second titanic home run and Reynoso pitched seven innings to deliver a 6-2 victory for the Tigers (17-32, 5-19) in Sunday's West Coast Conference matchup.
Eric Lex (3-8) suffered the loss for the Broncos (13-36, 9-15) after surrendering five runs (all earned) on 10 hits during his 7 1/3 innings of work.
Reynoso (5-6) threw 72 of his 99 pitches for strikes and set down nine straight batters from the first through the fourth innings, though Santa Clara had opportunities to plate runs against the sophomore lefthander who struck out nine and walked just one.
"It looked like both teams were pretty tired, it's been a long season," Santa Clara head coach Dan O'Brien said. "So both pitchers were battling our there and had the advantage early. We set the table. We had runners in scoring position in seven of the nine innings, we just didn't capitalize."
Matt Smithwick scored both Santa Clara runs, hitting a solo home run, his second of the season, in the seventh and came across the plate on a pinch-hit RBI double from Ryan McCarthy in the ninth.
VIDEO | @SCU_Baseball's Matt Smithwick Goes Full Stretch at the Track #StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos #TopPlayTuesday https://t.co/LdmHgu4ppU pic.twitter.com/9MxYwqB0LM
— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) May 14, 2017
But the Broncos were just 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Free was 3-for-5 with three RBIs, one of three players to produce at least two hits for the Tigers. He hit his 13th and 14th home runs of the season and now has 47 RBIs on the season
Mayer, who was 2-for-5, added the second long home run of the game in the eighth when he took a 2-0 pitch from Lex and drove it well over the center field fence for a 4-1 lead.
One batter later Lex was replaced by Alex Waldsmith, who surrendered one run before departing after loading the bases.
But Alonzo Billips, who picked up his first-career save in Friday's 5-3 win, came on and needed only one pitch to get out of the jam, inducing a force out at second base.
Lex threw 100 pitches, striking out four and walking one.
"Lex has given us everything he's had all year, and I'm proud of how he competed for us again today," said O'Brien. "He was tired, but he battled."
Vince Arobio pitched the final two innings for the Tigers, who lost 7-2 in Saturday's meeting between the teams.
It was Senior Day for the Broncos, who were looking for their second sweep of the season after taking all three from Pepperdine two weeks ago.
Seniors Tyler Meditz, Jacob Steffens and Steven Wilson were recognized prior to the game.
The Broncos do have one more home contest, facing Stanford at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in Stephen Schott Stadium.
Santa Clara closes out the season with a three-game set at Saint Mary's, beginning Friday.
Notes: Tyler Meditz's mother, Selena, tossed out the first pitch on Senior Day. Meditz was one of three seniors recognized prior to the game … mothers of both the Pacific and Santa Clara players were presented with flowers prior to the senior recognition.
