March 11, 2007
FRESNO, Calif. - The Santa Clara baseball team used a four-run seventh inning to blow open a close game Sunday afternoon and defeat the Fresno State Bulldogs, 8-4, in Fresno. With the win, the Broncos captured their second series of the season, and the first a three-game sweep of Utah from Feb. 2-4.
SCU (13-11) continues its 13-game road trip next weekend, traveling to Riverside to battle the UC Riverside Highlanders in a three-game series starting Friday, March 15.
Matt Long continued his strong weekend performance by hitting his first collegiate home run Sunday, providing the first run of SCU's big seventh inning, in which they turned a 4-3 lead into an 8-3 advantage. Carl Bacon went 3-for-4 and scored a run, while Evan LeBlanc had a pair of hits and freshman shortstop Jon Karcich drove in a pair of runs.
After six strong innings from starter Justin Kuehn, who struck out three batters and allowed only three runs on eight hits to earn his second win of the season, the Broncos delivered the decisive blow in their following time up.
Long led off the inning with a solo homer, and after the next two batters were retired, the Broncos staged another two-out rally to break out to their commanding lead. Bacon and LeBlanc reached on two-out singles, and Tommy Medica loaded the bases after getting hit by a pitch.
A balk by Bulldog pitcher Holden Sprague brought Bacon in, and the stage was set for Karcich, whose base hit plated LeBlanc and Medica to cap the big inning.
Alex Rivers and Sean O'Neill combined to limit the Bulldogs over the final three innings, allowing only a ninth-inning run, and clinching SCU's win.
The Broncos started the game off fast, scoring two runs in each of the first two innings to jump out to a 4-0 lead. In the first, David Hoffmire scored on Gabe Alcantar's fielder's choice for the first run of the game, followed by Ryan Conan's double to left which brought in Alcantar.
Medica led off the second with a single, and Karcich reached on an error by Bulldog first baseman Steve Susdorf. After advancing a base on a balk by Bulldog starter Brandon Burke, they scored on an RBI groundout by Patrick Glenn and when Hoffmire reached on an error.
The Bulldogs scored in the second when Ozzie Lewis doubled to lead off the inning, advanced to third on a wild pitch by Kuehn, and scored on Tom Mendonca's sacrifice fly to right.
Mendonca scored Fresno State's second and third runs in the fourth and sixth, respectively, after doubling to lead off the fourth inning and scoring on Brian Lapin's single up the middle. The sequence just about repeated itself in the sixth, as Mendonca's two-out triple was followed by another RBI single up the middle from Lapin.
