Feb. 27, 2008
STOCKTON, Calif. - The Santa Clara baseball team won its fourth straight as the Broncos defeated the Tigers of Pacific, 15-6, Wednesday night at Klein Family Field in Stockton, Calif. SCU is now 4-0 on the season, while UOP dropped to 1-3 overall.
Senior infielder Ryan Conan led all players as he batted .800 (4-for-5), while sophomore shortstop Jon Karcich registered the lone home run of the contest late in the first inning.
Santa Clara started off strong as it posted a five-run first inning. Reigning West Coast Conference Player of the Week Evan LeBlanc put the Broncos on the scoreboard first, advancing home after Conan singled to left field. Geoff Klein then sent one into center field allowing sophomore catcher Tommy Medica to score. With two outs, Karcich homered to left field and brought in Klein and Conan to score as well.
Redshirt junior lefty Matt Wickswat threw a quick 1-2-3 in his first start of the season to finish up the first inning. LeBlanc scored his second run of the game in the second inning, while Mike McKeever gave Pacific their first run of the night in the final play of the bottom of the inning. Santa Clara added on another run in the third as Conan scored his second opportunity of the night.
Both teams exploded in the fifth inning, each tallying four runs. Karcich doubled down the right field line to allow Gabe Alcantar and Conan to score. Patrick Glenn's sacrifice fly allowed Klein to score and Karcich to move to third. Brady Fuerst then singled to left field with Karcich finished the Broncos scoring for the inning. The Tigers had a similar inning as Jonathan Lewis, Noah St. Urbain, Adam Ching and Zach Chamberlain scored.
The Broncos held an 11-6 advantage at the end of the inning and the Tigers would not score for the remainder of the game.
Santa Clara added four more runs in the final four innings, with Medica scoring two runs and Conan and Glenn registering one run each.
Freshman Thain Simon replaced Wickswat in the middle of the fifth inning, striking out four batters and allowing only two hits. Senior Jeff Lombard, sophomore Mark Willinsky and junior Justin Kuehn all saw time on the mound Wednesday night as each pitched one inning and combined for five strike outs and two hits.
Santa Clara returns to action on Friday, Feb. 29 in game one of the 2008 Rivalry Series against San Jose State. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Stephen Schott Stadium.
