Baseball Wins Both Games of Saturday Doubleheader

Baseball Wins Both Games of Saturday Doubleheader
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Santa Clara took both doubleheader games against San Jose State on Saturday, winning a pitchers duel in the first game 2-1 while generating plenty of offense in the second game for a 13-2 victory.
 
The Santa Clara pitching staff allowed runs in just two of the 18 innings during the doubleheader including blanking the Spartans in 15 straight frames.  
 
Game 1: Santa Clara 2 – San Jose State 1
 
In the first game of the twi-night doubleheader, a two-run home run by Jake MacNichols was the difference in Santa Clara's 2-1 pitchers duel win.    
 
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the fourth and with a runner on first, MacNichols homered off San Jose State starter Kevin Kyle for his first home run of the season to give the Broncos a 2-1 lead.  Those were the only runs Santa Clara would need as four Santa Clara pitchers shut out the Spartans in the final eight frames. 
 
Santa Clara (2-0) starter Matthew McGarry, relievers Alex Reelfs, Alex Waldsmith and Ethan Heinrich combined to allow just five hits, one unearned run while striking out 14 to outduel the Spartans tandem of Kyle and reliever Wesley Clawson. 
 
The Spartans (0-2) put up a run in the first inning taking advantage of an error and two walks issued by McGarry.  With one out and bases loaded, McGarry kept the damage to a minimum allowing just one runner to come across on Reece Hernandez's sacrifice fly.  The Broncos pitching staff was lights out thereafter.  
 
McGarry and Reelfs pitched three innings each.  Waldsmith worked the seventh and eighth before Heinrich closed it out with an 1-2-3 inning to pick up the save.  
 
Reelfs (1-0) was credited with his first career win, allowing two hits and striking out five.  The big right-hander retired the first eight batters he faced before running into trouble in the sixth.  He loaded the bases after giving up a pair of singles and an intentional walk before getting Ruben Mercado to ground out to end the threat.  
 
Kyle (0-1) took the loss despite allowing just the two runs over 6 1/3 innings of work.  
 
Game 2: Santa Clara 13 – San Jose State 2
 
The Broncos (3-0) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning on back-to-back homers by MacNichols and Ryan McCarthy and never looked back.  
 
More stellar pitching was on hand for Santa Clara with starter Freddie Erlandson and reliever Cole Kitchen tossing seven scoreless innings to help blank the Spartans for 15 straight frames between the two doubleheader games.  Erlandson saw his first action after missing all of last season to an injury, went three innings before giving way to two-way player Kitchen.   The freshman tossed four more scoreless innings while fanning six to earn the win.    
 
A day earlier, Kitchen made his Bronco debut coming in on a defensive substitue playing right field and getting an infield hit in his first at-bat.  
 
MacNichols' blast in the first was a three-run shot, followed by a solo homer by McCarthy against Spartans starter Trevor Ernt (0-1) who took the loss.  They each drove in three runs in the game.  McCarthy also collected a team-high four hits along with Coleman Brigman as part of a 17 hit outburst by the Santa Clara lineup that saw every starter have at least one hit.  
 
Santa Clara added three runs in the second inning to extend the lead to 7-0 behind RBI singles by McCarthy and Bowes against reliever Dominic Eberle who replaced Ernt.  
 
The runs kept coming for the Broncos tacking on two more in the fifth and four in the seventh.
 
NOTES
-The last time the Broncos started the season 3-0 was in 2012 when they won the first five.  
-By winning the first three games of the four-game series, the Broncos have assured themselves a series win.  The last time the Broncos opened the season with a series win was in 2016 when they took two out of three against Notre Dame.  
-Freshman pitcher August Souza and utility player Eamonn Lance made their Bronco debuts.  
 
NEXT UP
The final game of the series will be played at Schott Stadium on Sunday in the home opener for the Broncos.  First pitch is at noon.  
TICKETS
Season or single-game tickets are available. Click here to purchase online or contact the ticket office in Leavey Center weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. at (408) 554-4660 or BroncoTickets@scu.edu. Group discounts are also available through our ticket office sales and service consultants. Gates to Stephen Schott Stadium, as well as its ticket booth, are open one hour prior to the start of the game.
 
GAMEDAY PROMOTIONS
Check out this year's gameday promotions here, including honoring our military members and first responders a every Saturday home games.  Military and first responders will receive complimentary admission for themselves and three guests.  Show your workd ID at the Stephen Schott Stadium box office on gameday to receive your tickets.  
 
PARKING
Parking is available in the Guadalupe lot, adjacent to 455 El Camino Real.  The Guadalupe lot is reserved beginning 60 minutes before game time through the end of the event for free parking.  Baseball parking is no longer allowed in the lot behind Schott Stadium's left field wall.  Overflow parking is available in the Leavey Center lot.  Spectators that plan to arrive more than an hour prior to game time on weekdays are encouraged to purchase a parking permit for the Leavey lot.  All SCU lot parking is free on weekends. ADA parking is available in the lot directly in front of the main gates; there is no general public parking in this lot. Follow signs for parking instructions. Click here for a campus parking map.
 
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