April 25, 2010
Final Stats
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VIDEO: Weekend With Curtis Wagner
SANTA CLARA, Calif - St. Mary's completed the series sweep over Santa Clara by winning Sunday's finale 6-3 at Stephen Schott Stadium. Trailing in the fifth, the visiting Gaels scored four unanswered runs to take control and used a pair of double-plays to kill Santa Clara rallies in the seventh and eighth innings.
"I don't think it's for a lack of competing," said Santa Clara head coach Mark O'Brien about Sunday's loss. "I give our guys credit for approaching the game the right way; we are just not getting results."
Santa Clara (14-22; 1-10 WCC) has now lost seven straight heading into Monday's game with No. 22 Stanford.
St. Mary's (14-20-1; 5-4 WCC) was able to claim its first West Coast Conference road series since sweeping Portland to close out the 2008 season. Brenden Kalfus' 3-run homer gave SMC a 4-1 lead in the fifth. Chris Murphy went 2-for-4 with a double and scored twice and Mikey Reynolds added two hits and two RBI.
The Broncos totaled 10 hits, seven coming from the first five batters in the lineup. Lucas Herbst scored on Evan Peters' RBI-single in the third inning giving SCU freshman starter Chris Mendoza a 1-0 lead.
The Gaels answered with a run in the top of the fifth and Kalfus put SMC up for good with his drive in the sixth, his fifth of the year. Martin Agosta (3-3) turned in a quality start for SMC, pitching six innings of 2-run baseball, allowing six hits, striking out one and walking one.
Mendoza (2-4) lost his fourth straight decision, allowing five runs on seven hits through 6 1/3 innings.
The Broncos threatened with runners throughout but hit into three double plays, ending their chances in the seventh and eighth innings. SMC shortstop Reynolds made a diving play behind Alex Schmarzo to end the game in the bottom of the ninth. Schmarzo picked up his second save of the series and fourth of the year.
"When things aren't going good, you seem to hit into double-plays," said O'Brien. "But our record is not the most important thing to me right now. I am more concerned about the way we are approaching the game."
Santa Clara hosts No. 22 Stanford Monday night at Stephen Schott Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. SCU will travel to Spokane to play at Gonzaga next weekend.
WCC STANDINGS
San Diego 9-0/23-15
Portland 11-1/27-9
San Francisco 5-3/22-18
Saint Mary's 5-4/14-20-1
Pepperdine 3-5/13-22
Gonzaga 2-6/13-27
Loyola Marymount 1-8/17-20
Santa Clara 1-10/14-22
WEEKEND SCORES
SAN DIEGO 9, Gonzaga 4 - FRI
SAN DIEGO 18, Gonzaga 5 - SAT
SAN DIEGO 17, Gonzaga 7 - SUN
Portland 8, PEPPERDINE 6 - FRI
Portland 8, PEPPERDINE 4 - SAT
Portland 5, PEPPERDINE 2 - SUN
San Francisco 8, LMU 5 - FRI
San Francisco 9, LMU 2 - SAT
LMU 11, San Francisco 9 - SUN
St. Mary's 10, SANTA CLARA 4 - FRI
St. Mary's 5, SANTA CLARA 4 - SAT
St. Mary's 6, SANTA CLARA 3 - SUN
NEXT WEEKEND
Santa Clara @ Gonzaga (3)
San Diego @ San Francisco (3)
St. Mary's @ LMU (3)
Portland vs. Seattle (2)
Portland vs. BYU (1)
Pepperdine - OFF
