SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara baseball lost 13-8 to San Jose State on Tuesday after leading 7-0 through five innings. The Broncos lost both mid-week matchups against the Spartans on the year.
Santa Clara (6-22, 2-4 WCC) held a 7-0 lead over San Jose State (11-17, 5-7 WCC) after five innings but SJSU struck for three in the sixth, six in the seventh and four in the eighth to secure the 13-8 victory. Jakob Gonzalez (1-0) earned the win for SJSU, throwing 0.2 scoreless innings. Freshman right-handed pitcher Luke Genova (1-2) was handed the loss for SCU, allowing one earned run in 0.1 innings pitched.
The Broncos jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, forcing the Spartans to go to the bullpen with just one out in the first inning. The bases were loaded for junior right fielder Niko Holm who hit a sacrifice fly to score sophomore third baseman John Cresto. Freshman center fielder Andre Nnebe then singled to drive in an unearned run by senior left fielder Tyler Meditz. Junior Evan Haberle then cleared the bases with a three-run homer to left field. It was his first homer of the season and he became the 10th different Bronco to hit a home run this year.
HIGHLIGHTS | @SCU_Baseball Puts Three over the Fences vs. San José State #StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos FULL CLIP: https://t.co/wwCdCwe3kr pic.twitter.com/YShOCCezQ5
— Santa Clara Broncos (@SCUBroncos) April 5, 2017
After 3.2 scoreless innings from freshman right-handed pitcher Grant Nechak to start the game, fellow freshman right-handed pitcher Alonzo Billips made his season debut and recorded the final out of the inning. Nechak allowed just three hits and struck out four without walking any hitters.
The Broncos tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning when Cresto hit his fifth home run of the season after junior shortstop Austin Fisher hit a leadoff triple. Cresto had a big day offensively, going for 4-for-5 with a double, a home run, two runs batted in and two runs scored himself.
San Jose State pulled three runs back in the top of the sixth inning to cut the SCU lead to 7-3 but Fisher responded with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to push the lead back to five. Fisher went 3-of-4 at the dish, recording a triple and a home run while driving in one run and scoring two himself.
The Spartans had a big top of the seventh, scoring six runs to take a 9-8 lead over the Broncos. SJSU posted six runs on four hits with one Bronco error, two batters were walked and two runners were left on base in the frame.
Holm opened up the bottom of the seventh with a triple but was left stranded at third base. The Broncos were 5-for-22 on the night with runners on base and 4-of-12 with runners in scoring position.
SJSU extended the lead in the top of the eighth by adding four runs to take a 13-8 lead and end the game's scoring.
Up Next: Santa Clara heads to Loyola Marymount this weekend to face the Lions with the three-game series starting on Friday at 6 p.m. PT.
