SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Trailing 7-6 in the bottom of the ninth and down to the last out, Mike Bowes smashed a three-run walkoff home run to send Santa Clara baseball to a thrilling, come from behind 9-7 victory over crosstown rival San Francisco on Sunday.
Bowes, who had homered to right field in the previous inning against Alex Pham, took an 0-1 slider from Dons closer Jesse Barron to send it over the left field fence this time.
Santa Clara (12-17, 5-7) trailed 7-5 entering the ninth but Matt Jew drew a leadoff walk and Coleman Brigman singled to put two runners on against Pham who was working his fourth inning. With two outs, Pham uncorked a wild pitch that advanced the runners to scoring position.
The next batter, Jason Dicochea fell behind the count but on an 1-2 pitch, his comebacker glanced off the glove of Pham to score Jew. Dicochea's RBI infield hit got the Broncos within one run, prompting Dons head coach Nino Giarratano to make a pitching change to Barron.
Two pitches later, Santa Clara was celebrating and ended San Francisco's (13-16, 8-4) eight-game win streak.
Pham (2-3) was saddled with the loss giving up four runs over 3 2/3 innings while August Souza (1-1) who threw a scoreless ninth was credited with the win.
Bowes went 3-for-3 and drove in five of the final six runs for the Broncos including a sacrifice fly RBI in the fifth, a solo homer in the eighth and the walkoff round-tripper.
Six Dons drove in a run led by Nick Yovetich with a pair of RBIs which came in the four-run third inning to give the Dons a 6-3 lead.
Along with Yovetich, pinch-hitter Harris Williams also had two hits.
Dicochea and Coleman Brigman also had two hits each.
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— Santa Clara Baseball (@SCU_Baseball) April 12, 2021
Here's the walk-off home run by Mike Bowes from today's victory over San Francisco!@WCCSports @NCAACWS @d1baseball #BroncoBoys #StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos pic.twitter.com/uKMsqD55Ub
Walkoff Celebration. pic.twitter.com/APjeyfudlP
— Santa Clara Baseball (@SCU_Baseball) April 11, 2021
��️ Hear from Mike Bowes after his walk-off, three-run home run in today's victory over San Francisco!
— Santa Clara Baseball (@SCU_Baseball) April 11, 2021
Postgame interview presented by @ROATweets.#BroncoBoys #StampedeTogether #SCUBroncos pic.twitter.com/KUSqwZc7qE
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