April 13, 2001
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University baseball team exploded for five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to break open a tight contest and advance to a 10-4 West Coast Conference win over the University of San Diego Friday at Buck Shaw Stadium.
Santa Clara improved to 14-23 on the season and 10-7 in the WCC. The Broncos remain in first-place in its division, one game ahead of San Francisco. San Diego dropped to 25-14, 11-6.
Bronco first baseman Matt Queen belted a bases-loaded double in the eighth inning to score three runs to give Santa Clara its six-run margin of victory. The inning began with freshman Alex Anderson reaching base on a wild pitch following a called third-strike. He advanced to second when Kellen McConnell was hit by a pitch. Following a bunt by Norm Hayes, Mike Balestreri walked to load the bases. The Broncos only recorded one hit in the five-run eighth inning.
"The eighth inning was a key one for us, obviously," said Santa Clara Head Coach Mike Cummins. "We still aren't hitting the ball as well as we would like. But we did find a way to score tonight. Some of it has to do with luck and some has to do with continuing to battle. We had a combination of the two tonight and we were fortunate enough to come out with the win."
San Diego coach Rich Hill was ejected from the game in the top of the sixth inning after disputing a foul call on a line drive down the third base line. In the sixth, the Toreros increased their lead to 4-2 on a single to left field by Greg Sain. In the bottom half of the inning, Santa Clara tied the game on a sacrifice fly by McConnell that scored Joey Gomes.
Senior reliever Jim DeMartini (2-1) entered the game with two outs in the sixth inning and limited the Toreros to just one hit in two-and-a-third innings to earn the win. David Dunn (4-1) took his first loss of the season for San Diego after giving up five Bronco runs in one-and-a-half innings of work.
Freshman John Redmond pitched five-and-two-thirds innings for the Broncos and recorded a career-high six strikeouts. He gave-up four runs on nine hits in the game. USd starter Patrick Lucy struckout five and limited the Broncos to just two hits in the first five-and-one-third innings.
The two teams will play the third and final game of the series Saturday at 1 p.m. at Buck Shaw Stadium.
