MALIBU, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball scored twice in the second inning before Pepperdine rallied for six of the game's last seven runs to win 6-3 Saturday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium. The Waves clinched the series win Saturday following their 3-2 win Friday.
The Broncos (15-18, 4-10 WCC) scored their first run of the game on a second-inning error by Pepperdine second baseman Hutton Moyer. TC Florentine hit a two-out grounder to Moyer, who bobbled the ball, allowing Jake Brodt to score from third. Joe Becht followed with an RBI single to score Tyler Meditz and give Santa Clara a 2-0 lead.
The Waves (19-17, 9-5 WCC) answered with one run in the bottom of the second second en route to scoring five unanswered runs through the end of the fifth. Matt Gelalich started the scoring in the second inning with a two-out, RBI single down the right field line. Nick Costello gave the hosts a 3-2 lead with a one-out double in the third. One inning later, Moyer hit an RBI sacrifice fly to left field and Brad Anderson homered to left in back-to-back at-bats to make the score 5-2.
Bronco starting pitcher Kevin George (L, 2-3) allowed five earned runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 4.0 innings Saturday. A.J. Puckett (W, 4-4) allowed three runs (one earned) on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts in 6.0 innings for the Waves.
Santa Clara had runners on the corners with one out in the fourth, when TC Florentine flied out to center field. Both runners attempted to tag up, and Gelalich threw out Meditz at second base for the final out of the inning — the home plate umpire judged that the tag occurred before Brodt touched home.
Grant Meylan singled and advanced to second base on a wild pitch with one out in the fifth, and Kyle Cortopassi drove in the Bronco freshman with a single down the left field line to make the score 5-3. Santa Clara's Jason Seever faced one batter above the minimum in 2.0 shutout innings and Nick Medeiros allowed a two-out home run to Brandon Caruso in the seventh to make the score 6-3 Waves. Medeiros dealt a 1-2-3 eighth inning for the Broncos.
After Chandler Blanchard pitched two innings of relief for the Waves, Max Gamboa took the mound for the ninth. Gamboa (SV, 1) allowed Cortopassi to reach on a ground ball that hit off the pitcher's glove and was mishandled by Moyer for an error with two outs. He retired three of the four batters he faced to seal the victory.
Stevie Berman led the Broncos with his second multi-hit effort in as many games by going 2-for-4 in the loss. Cortopassi and Becht each drove in runs for the Broncos while Brodt and Meditz both doubled and scored Saturday. Anderson, Caruso and Gelalich each hit safely twice for the Waves and Caruso led all batters by going 2-for-2 with a home run, two walks and two runs scored.
Santa Clara's Eric Lex (2-2, 4.12 ERA) takes the mound against Pepperdine's Ryan Wilson (5-1, 3.10 ERA) in Sunday's 1 p.m. series finale.
GAME NOTES: First pitch was at 1:05 p.m. … time of the game was 3:10 … attendance was 723 … Jose Vizcaino, Jr. had a career-best 17-game hitting streak snapped in the loss
