Jan. 28, 2007
HONOLULU, Hawaii - The timely hitting of Carl Bacon and the untouchable relief pitching of Jeff Lombard combined to wrap up Santa Clara's first win of the 2007 season Sunday afternoon, a 3-2 truimph over the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. With the win, the Broncos averted a season-opening sweep and created some important momentum heading into next weekend's home opener.
That opener will take place Friday night at 6 p.m., as the Broncos (1-2) welcome the Utah Utes to Schott Stadium for the first homestand of the season. Saturday and Sunday's contests are each set for a 1 p.m. first pitch. Tickets are available by calling (408) 554 4660 or by clicking Justin Kuehn got a no-decision despite tossing six strong innings in which he allowed only one earned run and struck out a pair. Offensively, Evan LeBlanc went 2-for-2, scoring a pair of runs and walking twice, while Kevin Drever and Tommy Medica each had two hits as well.
Santa Clara took an early lead Sunday just as it had in the first two games of the series. LeBlanc's one-out walk in the second was followed by Bacon's single and then Ryan Conan's double plated LeBlanc with the game's first run.
Hawaii evened things up in the third, scoring an unearned run as a two-out error prolonged the half-inning, allowing Elijah Christiansen to drive in Brandon Haislet with a base hit. The Rainbow Warriors then tacked on a second run in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead on Kris Sanchez' two-out, RBI double.
But SCU answered right away. With one out, LeBlanc singled and advanced to second on a balk, and from there Bacon promptly drove him in with a base hit up the middle to tie it up at 2-2. After Lombard came on in the seventh and struck out Christiansen with runners on the corners to quell a Hawaii threat, Bacon delivered a one-out single with runners on the corners to score Nathan Faulkner with the go-ahead run.
Lombard struck out five more batters the rest of the way, ending the contest by once again getting Christiansen swinging with runners on the corners.
