SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Reece Karalus struck out a career-high 11 batters as the starting pitcher for Santa Clara baseball Friday night, and the Broncos fell to the Gonzaga Bulldogs 14-1 at Schott Stadium in the West Coast Conference series opener. Santa Clara trailed 2-1 at the end of the seventh inning before Gonzaga scored 12 combined runs in the eighth and ninth innings.
Karalus (L, 1-5) pitched 7.0 innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits with no walks alongside the career-best 11 strikeouts for the Broncos (16-24, 4-12 WCC). The North Bend, Wash. native retired the first seven batters he faced and struck out two Bulldogs in each of the first three innings; he finished the night with four three-up-three-down frames. Karalus broke a previous career mark of eight strikeouts, set April 4, 2013 against BYU at Schott Stadium.
Andrew Sopko allowed an earned run on six hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in 7.0 innings for the Bulldogs (20-19, 10-9 WCC). Sopko (W, 7-3) held the Broncos to 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Santa Clara threatened in the first inning by putting runners on the corners after Kyle Cortopassi reached on an error and advanced to third on a single by Jose Vizcaino, Jr. Cortopassi was tagged out at home on a fielder's choice ground ball off the bat of Stevie Berman; Gonzaga first baseman Taylor Jones threw home to catcher Joey Harris to retire the Bronco third baseman.
In the second, TC Florentine hit a one-out single to left field and advanced to second base on a balk by Sopko. Two batters later, Braden Frankfort hit an RBI double down the left field line to drive in Florentine and put the Broncos ahead 1-0.
Gonzaga took the lead 2-1 on a two-out, two-run homer to right field by Mitchell Gunsolus in the third inning. Trailing by one run, Santa Clara stranded the potential game-tying run at second base after putting two runners aboard with one out in the home seventh inning.
The Bulldogs sent 12 batters to the plate and had five of them drive in runs during the eighth inning to make the score 9-1, including a bases-clearing three-run triple down the right field line from Jeffrey Bohling — one of the team's seven hits that inning. Five different Bulldogs drove in a run as part of a five-run ninth.
Vizcaino, Jr. went 2-for-4 for Santa Clara and Florentine went 2-for-3 in the loss. Gunsolus led all batters by going 4-for-6 with a double, a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored; he tied Bohling with a game-high three RBIs.
Santa Clara and Gonzaga return to the Schott Stadium diamond for a 6 p.m. PDT first pitch Saturday. RHP Eric Lex (2-4, 5.90 ERA) will make the start for the Broncos against Gonzaga RHP Hunter Wells (1-3, 3.03 ERA).
GAME NOTES: First pitch was at 6:06 p.m. PDT … time of game was 3:15 … attendance was 330 … Nick Medeiros faced one batter in the eighth.
