Posted: Mar 17, 2018
SAN DIEGO – Behind the dominant pitching of left-hander Chris Murphy, San Diego beat Santa Clara baseball 8-2 on Saturday in the second of a three-game series, setting up Sunday's rubber match.
After racking 14 hits in the series opening win on Friday night, the Santa Clara (12-5, 1-1 WCC) bats were limited to three hits by Murphy, who struck out 14 Broncos, and reliever Anthony Donatella.
Murphy allowed just five base runners, allowing one hit, walking three and hitting one, over eight innings while throwing 127 pitches. Jason Dicochea (1-for-3) had the lone hit for the Broncos against Murphy which came in the second inning.
Daniel Gardner did much of the damage for the Toreros (10-9, 1-1 WCC) going 3-for-4 and knocking in the first three San Diego runs. Gardner had an RBI single in the bottom of the first to score Tora Otsuka for the first run of the game against Bronco starter Alex Waldsmith.
In the fifth inning, with the bases loaded, Gardner singled against Bronco reliever Alex Barden to bring home two more runs to make it 3-0 in favor of the Toreros. San Diego tacked on another run in the fifth and added four more in the eighth.
Murphy started the ninth inning before being pulled in favor of Donatella after walking Bronco pinch-hitter Zach Walsh. Austin Reyes (1-for-3, R) followed with a double off Donatella for the second hit of the game for the Broncos. With two outs, Jake MacNichols (1-for-4, 2 RBIs) singled to drive in Walsh and Reyes to avoid the shutout bid.
Waldsmith (0-2) took the loss for the Broncos with Murphy (2-1) earning the win.
First pitch of Sunday's rubber match is at 1 p.m. PT. San Diego will send the Golden Spikes Watch List pitcher Nick Sprengel (1-0, 2.40 ERA) to the mound. The Broncos pitcher is TBA.