April 26, 2010
By, Brandon Rebboah '13
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara's offense exploded for seven runs after five scoreless innings en route to a 9-3 upset win over No. 18 Stanford Monday night at Stephen Schott Stadium. All-Americans Tommy Medica and Geoff Klein hit back-to-back homeruns in the seventh to ensure the Broncos of victory.
"Obviously when you beat a team like Stanford it feels good. They've been one of the top two or three programs nationally in the last 25 years," said Santa Clara Head Coach Mark O'Brien. "We played good baseball and we got rewarded for it. I'm happy for our players."
Santa Clara (15-22) has now defeated Stanford for the third straight year. Medica finished the night 2-for-4 with three RBI. Pat Stover hit a bases-clearing 3-RBI triple in the sixth.
Stanford (21-14) came into the week ranked No. 18 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. The Cardinal loss to the Broncos snaps an eight game winning-streak, seven of which came against ranked opponents.
O'Brien and the Broncos turned to the bullpen Monday night, giving freshman righty Brock Simon his sixth start of the year. Simon pitched two innings of scoreless baseball, giving up only one hit. Six SCU pitchers went on to combine to hold Stanford scoreless through the eighth.
"I thought all of our pitchers went out there and took control of the mound," said O'Brien. "Jon Hughes gave up the only runs but I thought he did really well. It was good to get him back out there."
Hughes made his first appearance since March 27 - and first-ever appearance as a reliever - coming on in the seventh after Stover's triple gave the Broncos a 4-0 lead. Hughes pitched two near-flawless innings before allowing a homerun in the ninth.
"I thought my splitter was working well," said Hughes. "Every time I got up in the count I was able to use it effectively. It helped me get strikeouts."
Hughes and closer J.R. Graham combined to punch out six Stanford batters in the final three innings. Cory Hall (1-0) was credited with the win after throwing a perfect inning in mid-relief.
With SCU leading 4-0 in the seventh, Santa Clara's two All-Americans provided back-to-back no-doubt homeruns. Medica hit a towering two-run bomb that hit the scoreboard in centerfield. Moments later, Geoff Klein rocketed a ball that easily cleared the right field fence.
"The first time I got up I rolled over and grounded out," said Medica. "When I hit that homer I was just trying to be more patient and wait for a good fastball."
Medica added an RBI-single as part of a two run eighth inning which put SCU in front 9-0. Stanford sophomore Scott Colton hit his first career homerun in just his second at-bat in a Cardinal uniform in the ninth. Stanford starter Danny Sandbrink (1-1) was tagged with the loss in his longest outing since 2008, working into the sixth.
Santa Clara travels to Stockton to face Pacific on Wednesday at 6 p.m. then continues WCC play this weekend at Gonzaga.
GAME NOTES: UT Tommy Medica's (.383 BA) homer was his team-leading eighth of the year... 1B Curtis Wagner (.406 BA) extended his hitting streak to nine games with a RBI-single in the sixth... Santa Clara and Stanford combined for three pickoffs at first base... Stanford head coach Mark Marquess is in his 34th year coaching the Cardinal... Santa Clara's April 11th game against Pepperdine, which was postponed due to rain, has been rescheduled for Thursday May 6th at 4 p.m. at Stephen Schott Stadium.
