SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Don't ever count them out.
 
The Santa Clara University baseball team engineered its best come-from-behind victory yet on Friday night, scoring an astounding six runs in the bottom of the ninth to wipe out a 5-0 deficit and take the first game of a West Coast Conference series against LMU, 6-5, at Stephen Schott Stadium.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After working a full count with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and the winning run on first base, Coleman Brigman barely missed at least tying the game with a ball he placed only four feet off the left field foul line. The foul ball put the crowd of over 400 on the edge of its seats in a last-at-bat rally which had already built up to this single moment.
   
• On the very next pitch … Brigman straightened it out just enough.
   
• Brigman hit the next pitch he saw to almost the same exact spot, but this time inside the foul line, doubling into the left field corner to clear the bases, with pinch runner Jordan Lewis scoring the game winner, and completing a six-run, come-from-behind, walk-off rally that put the Broncos within striking distance of clinching a WCC Tournament spot.
   
• The rally was started by nine-hole hitter Malcolm Williams, who had gone 1 for his last 23 before doubling in the sixth, then kicking things off in the ninth with a hard-hit single off the  diving glove of Brendan Bobo. That was followed by two walks and an error at shortstop, which brought home the Broncos' first run of the game and made it 5-1. Michael O'Hara drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 5-2, and Ben Steck worked a full count before singling to straight away center field to make it 5-3 and set up Brigman's heroic at-bat.
   
• Santa Clara (23-23, 9-10 WCC) had put runners on base in every single inning from the first through the eighth, had put runners in scoring position in five of those – and also ended up stranding runners in all but one of those first eight innings, leading to a goose egg on the scoreboard. They were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position until Steck's RBI single and Brigman's walk-off double.
   
• Meanwhile, LMU (21-27, 6-13 WCC) used multiple timely two-out hits to build a 4-0 early lead through four innings and a 5-0 advantage after seven. All five of the Lions' runs were scored with two outs in the inning. Two, two-run, two-out home runs in back-to-back innings in the third and fourth, first by Bobo and then by Devan Ornelas, put LMU up by four. They'd add an insurance run on an RBI single from Bobo in the seventh.
   
• The Broncos used five pitchers Friday, three of which put up zeros in their outing. Caden Wooster (1-1) earned his first win of the year with a scoreless top of the ninth. Josh Johnson threw two shutout innings, and Cade Pilchard started things out with two innings of shutout ball in the first and second.
   
• LMU's Owen Hackman worked around plenty of trouble to shutout the Broncos for six innings. He walked five but also struck out four and stranded five runners in scoring position to keep Santa Clara off the board. Ryan Mullan threw two innings of shutout relief to get the Lions to the ninth with a 5-0 lead, but it was all the Lions could get to that point.
   
• Former Santa Clara Bronco reliever Jeff Heinrich entered in the ninth and immediately ran into trouble. All four of the first batters he faced reached safely – including second baseman Ben Cleary on an error by LMU shortstop Ben Casillas, which scored the Broncos' first run and extended the inning. Schroeder relieved Heinrich, and he struck out the first batter he faced, providing some hope for LMU to escape. But he'd allow the next three batters to reach safely on a walk, Steck's RBI single and Brigman's three-run, game-winning double.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 6: One would think six runs in the ninth would easily be the most a team has scored in a while, but it actually was only one run more than the Broncos'2024 season high for runs in the ninth. They scored five in the bottom of the ninth against UMBC on Feb. 25, which included JonJon Berring's walk-off grand slam.
• 13: Santa Clara earned its 13th come-from-behind win of the year Friday. More than half of SCU's wins (23) have come after trailing at some point in the game.

NEXT UP

• The series continues Friday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links at SantaClaraBroncos.com.