PHOENIX — And the hits just kept on coming.
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The Santa Clara University baseball team put an accent on an explosive weekend Sunday, racking up 15 more hits, hitting four homers and scoring 14 runs to earn a 14-13 non-conference road victory over Arizona State in the series finale at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
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The Broncos (1-2) totaled 33 runs over the weekend on 37 hits, including 10 doubles and seven home runs. They hit .319 and slugged .586 as a team while posting a .397 team on-base percentage in the three-game series.
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JonJon Berring headed the offensive attack and put his own accent on Sunday's game. Tied 12-12 in the ninth inning, it was Berring's two-run, go-ahead home run that would prove to be the game winner, putting Santa Clara ahead for good at 14-12. Berring tallied his third consecutive multi-hit game and multi-extra-base hit performance Sunday, homering twice and going 3 for 5 with a career-high six RBIs.
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Five other Broncos had multi-hit games.
Efrain Manzo, who hit a three-run, go-ahead home run in the fifth, went 2 for 4 and finished with four RBIs.
Malcolm Williams hit his first homer of the year and went 2 for 4 with two RBIs. True freshman
Ben Cleary got the first base hits of his career, going 2 for 3 with an RBI, two walks and four runs scored.
Jordan Lewis went 2 for four and
Dylan Joyce went 2 for 5.
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Arizona State's offense was no slouch on Sunday, scoring 13 runs on 13 hits with three home runs of their own. Four Sun Devils had multi-hit games, led by Ethan Mendoza's perfect 5-for-5, three-RBI day. Harris Williams went 3 for 6 with a home run, double and four RBIs from the leadoff spot.
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Sunday's game saw two lead changes and four tie scores. Santa Clara came from behind yet again after the Sun Devils, yet again, scored multiple runs in the first three innings. Santa Clara struck first in the opening frame with a run on a
Malcolm Williams RBI single, but Arizona State answered with three of their own in the bottom of the first to go up, 3-1.
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The Broncos went back ahead with three in the second and three in the third, highlighted by Berring's first home run of the day, a two-run shot over the right-center field wall in the third, making it 7-3. But once again, Arizona State answered with four in the bottom of the third to tie it at 7-7. It was back-to-back, two-run singles this time for ASU off the bats of Mendoza and Williams.
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Efrain Manzo crushed a three-run homer over the right field wall in the top of the fifth, his second in as many days, to make it 10-7. Williams added a solo shot in the sixth to put the Broncos up four at 11-7. Things looked like they may be settling, as the Broncos' staff had held the Sun Devils scoreless for three frames. And yet, back came ASU with a four-run seventh to tie it at 11-all. Ryan Campos' game-tying three-run homer to straight-away center field came on an 0-2 count with two outs.
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A go-ahead RBI single from Lewis in the top of the eighth put Santa Clara up 12-11, but it still wasn't enough. Arizona State came right back and got its own game-tying RBI single in the bottom half to make it 12-12. That's when Berring finally put the game away with his two-run shot in the top of the ninth, making it 14-12.
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The Sun Devils still wouldn't go away though. Williams hit a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth and cut the deficit to one. It took Santa Clara four pitchers in the ninth to get three outs, but
Sebastian Schreiber final got Isaiah Jackson to pop out to second with the game-tying run on second and the game-winning run on first, ending the near-3-1/2 hour contest.
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Schreiber got his first save as a Bronco, while
Max Bayles (1-0) got his first career win in his collegiate debut. ASU's Hunter Omlid (0-1) took the loss in 1 1/3 innings of work.
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