April 3, 2009
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara baseball team dropped its seventh straight game Friday night with a 9-4 loss to No. 23 San Diego in West Coast Conference action at Stephen Schott Stadium. The Broncos are now 10-14 on the season and 0-4 in WCC play. The Toreros are 20-11 overall and 4-0 in league action.
The win and complete game went to Kyle Blair (3-1). The loss went to junior Nate Garcia (4-3). He went six innings, struck out six and eight Torero runs were credited to him.
At bat, Matt Long went 3-for 4 with one run and Geoff Klein had one run and one RBI. For San Diego, Chris Engel and James Meador were 2-for-5 with two runs and one RBI each.
After two quick innings, San Diego got on the scoreboard after Jon Hotta scored on a single up the middle from Nick McCoy. The Broncos had the opportunity to take the lead in their half of the third inning as the bases became loaded with two outs. Andrew Biancardi singled, Long was intentionally walked and Lucas Herbst was hit by a pitch. However, the runners could not be driven in. The Toreros then increased their lead with two more runs in the fourth inning. San Diego claimed an 8-0 advantage in the fifth inning with five runs.
Santa Clara was held scoreless until the eighth inning. The Broncos broke out with four runs to cut the gap in half, 8-4.
Kevin Madden opened the home half of the inning with a double to left field. Juan Parra then brought in SCU's first run with a single to right field. Madden scored. Long then advanced to third as Jon Karcich reached on a fielder's choice and Parra was put out at second. Long was plated on a Klein single. Karcich tallied the third run on a sacrifice from Brady Fuerst. The final run was scored by Klein on a Curtis Wagner double to centerfield.
San Diego added one more run in the ninth inning for the final score, 9-4.
The Broncos and Toreros continue the series on Saturday, Apr 4 at 6 p.m. The series concludes on Sunday, Apr. 5 at 3:30 p.m. in a nationally televised game on ESPNU.
