Box Score
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara baseball beat Sacramento State, 11-10, on
Jake Brodt's walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning capping off yet another extra inning win for the Broncos to extend its winning streak to five games. The Broncos (9-3) have won eight of its last nine games on the season.
Tied 10-10 in the home half of the 10th inning, senior
Grant Meylan (2-for-4, 2 R, BB) led off the inning with a walk on four straight pitches from Sacramento State pitcher Ty Fox.
John Cresto (3-for-6, R, RBI) followed with a single to set the stage for
Jake Brodt (1-for-5, R, RBI, BB). With runners at first and second, Brodt sent a hard grounder to Hornets third baseman Steven Moretto that ricocheted off of him into left field allowing Meylan to score the winning run.
It was the second consecutive game the Broncos won on a walk-off hit and the third overall this season. Santa Clara beat Utah, 6-5, in 12 innings in the second game of the double header last Sunday and beat Wake Forest, 7-6, in 14 innings back on Feb. 24.
The scoring happened early and often on Thursday with all the runs except for the walk-off run coming in the first five frames.
Sacramento State (5-8) got on board in the first, scoring two runs on two hits and a walk off of Bronco starter
Penn Murfee.
Trailing 2-0, the Bronco offense exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the second sending 14 batters to the plate highlighted by
Jake MacNichols' (2-for-5, R, 4 RBI) grand slam home run.
The Hornets erased Santa Clara's lead, coming back with five runs in the third and two runs in the fourth to tie the game up 9-9.
In the fifth inning, Sacramento State took the lead 10-9 against Broncos' fourth pitcher of the day
Travis Howard when Josh Urps singled home Keith Torres.
Santa Clara answered back in the bottom of the inning when
Matt Smithwick (2-for-4, R, 2 RBI) singled home
Evan Haberle (3-for-4, 2 R). Haberle led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second on a
Jason Dicochea (2-for-4, R, RBI) sacrifice bunt.
From the sixth inning out, neither team scored until the walk-off run, with Howard pitching five innings allowing just that one run in the fifth. Howard allowed three hits and walked one while striking out seven, matching a career-high set against Hawaii on March 24, 2016.
Bronco closer
Eric Lex (1-0), who pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top half of the 10th got the win for the Broncos. Fox (0-2) took the loss for the Hornets.
The Broncos had six hitters with multiple hits to tally 16 hits in the game, the most hits they have hit this season.
Santa Clara concludes its nine game homestand on Friday when they'll send
Steven Wilson (2-0, 0.00 ERA) to the mound against Hornets righty Scott Randall (2-1, 4.50 ERA). First pitch is at 6 p.m. PT.
