SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball broke open a 1-0 game with four runs in the seventh and held off a late rally to defeat Eastern Michigan 5-3 Saturday night at Schott Stadium. The Broncos have earned at least a split of the four-game series ahead of Sunday's doubleheader.
With the victory, the Broncos (6-3) have matched the longest winning streak during head coach Dan O'Brien's tenure at five games.
"Wins are great, but we're focused more on competing consistently right now," head coach Dan O'Brien said. "We're doing a good job of staying level-headed and grinding out ballgames. That will lead to continued success in the win-loss column if we keep that up."
Starting pitcher Steven Wilson (W, 1-0) threw 7.0 shutout innings, allowing five hits and no walks with eight strikeouts to pick up his first winning decision of the season. The Littleton, Colo. native started his outing with two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 first inning for the Broncos. The Eagles (3-8) left runners in scoring position in four consecutive innings from the second through the fifth against Wilson. The Bronco starter held his opposition to 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
Wilson retired the first five batters he faced, and the Eagles rallied with two outs to put runners on second and third in the second. Eastern Michigan's Austin Wilson hit a ground ball to third base and Santa Clara's Evan Haberle made a diving stop and throw across the infield to retire Wilson and keep the visitors off the board.
"Steven was outstanding tonight. He's really starting to come into his own as a pitcher," O'Brien said. "When he came to us, he was a prospect; now he's a veteran."
The Broncos scored first against Eagle starter Charlie Land (L, 0-2) in the fifth when Grant Meylan laid down a squeeze bunt to score Haberle for a 1-0 lead. Land threw 6.0+ innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
Santa Clara batted around from Jake Brodt to T.J. Braff in a four-run seventh inning that included three hits and two Eastern Michigan errors. The Broncos put runners on first and second against Land, and with T.C. Florentine set to bat, the Eagles called for Michael Marsinek out of the bullpen. Florentine hit a bunt single to Eagle second baseman John Rubino, whose throwing error allowed Brodt to round third and score the second Bronco run of the game. One batter later, Austin Fisher hit a sacrifice bunt to drive in Haberle and make the score 3-0 Broncos.
"[Our offense] just executes everything really well," designated hitter Ryan Budnick said. "Everybody knows we don't need to do too much because we have a guy coming up behind us who will do it too. A base hit up the middle will score a couple of runs, especially with our speed."
Later in the seventh, Budnick capped the four-run inning with a two-RBI single up the middle for a 5-0 Bronco lead. The designated hitter led Santa Clara with a 3-for-4 night and two RBIs. Haberle reached base safely twice with a pair of walks and came in to score twice for the home team.
"I was really just sticking to my approach, looking for a fastball," Budnick said. "I was seeing the ball well. It felt good tonight."
After Wilson's exit in the eighth, Mitchell White retired the first two batters he faced and the Eagles answered with a walk and single to put two runners on. Josh Inoyue came in to pitch for Santa Clara and issued an inning-ending groundout to Mitchell McGeein.
In the top of the ninth, Eastern Michigan pinch hitter Michael Mioduszewski hit a one-out, three-run triple to right-center to make the score 5-3 and bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Rubino. Santa Clara closer Reece Karalus (SV, 3) entered the ballgame and struck out the final two batters to pick up his third save of the season.
The Broncos and Eagles round out the series with a Sunday doubleheader at Schott Stadium. First pitch of Game 1 is set for 1 p.m. and the seven-inning Game 2 will begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 1.
GAME NOTES: First pitch was at 6:02 p.m. … time of game was 3:17 … attendance was 318.
