Feb. 23, 2008
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara baseball team registered this third win of the season with a 9-2 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats at Stephen Schott Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Broncos rallied for seven runs in the fourth inning to break away from Kansas State early on.
Santa Clara (3-0) started things off in the third inning as Matt Long's single to right field advanced Kevin Madden into scoring position. Evan LeBlanc, who registered his first home run of the season Friday afternoon, drove one far into right field allowing Madden to score and put the Broncos up by one, 1-0. Long then scored to give the Broncos a 2-0 lead on a putout at first by Wildcats' pitcher Chase Bayuk.
Geoff Klein hit a leadoff double to right center in the action packed fourth inning and score two batters later on a Brady Fuerst double to left field. Following back-to-back walks, Todd Vogel came on in relief of Bayuk and threw a wild pitch on his first delivery to score Fuerst and then allowed a two-run double to LeBlanc. The scoring outburst was finished off by a three-run homer to left field by senior Gabe Alcantar. The Broncos entered the fifth inning leading 9-0.
However, K-State got on the scoreboard as Nate Tenbrink scored on Daniel Dellasega's single to left field. Tenbrink added another run for the Wildcats in the ninth with a leadoff homer to right field.
Donald Brandt earned his first win of the season for the Broncos. He pitched 5.2 innings for Santa Clara, registering five strikeouts. Freshman Joe Supple had his first taste of collegiate action as he relieved Brandt in the sixth inning and Daniel DeMarco finished the pitching duties for the Broncos.
Long and Madden led the Broncos scoring as each had two runs.
The second game of the doubleheader was postponed due to inclement weather. Fans should check www.SantaClaraBroncos.com for possible makeup games this weekend.
