SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Santa Clara University baseball team will have to wait another day to seal its second consecutive trip to the postseason, as visiting LMU scored early and often Saturday to even the teams' West Coast Conference series with a 20-5 win, forcing a rubber game on Sunday at Stephen Schott Stadium.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• LMU (22-27, 7-13 WCC) scored three runs in the first inning thanks to a two-out, bases-loaded triple. At the time, it marked the scoring of all eight of the Lions' runs in the series to that point with two outs (five on Friday). The Lions' entire first-inning rally came together with two outs after Santa Clara starter Brandon Gomez (2-4) struck out the first two batters he faced. Two infield singles and a hit-by-pitch filled up the bases, and Devan Ornelas drove them all home on the first pitch he saw for a 3-0 lead. It was the first of five hits for Ornelas on the day and three of his team-high five RBIs.
   
• Another LMU run in the second scored on the second out of the inning (a sacrifice fly) made it 4-0. Santa Clara (23-24, 9-11 WCC) got on the board in the third thanks to JonJon Berring's ninth home run of the year, a solo shot over the right field fence, making it 4-1.
   
• LMU opened the game up with a seven-run fourth. The Lions loaded the bases with no outs and then brought home runs on each of the next five consecutive at-bats to go up 11-1.
   
• Santa Clara put together a three-run rally in the bottom of the eighth to chip away at a double-digit deficit and bring it into single digits at 14-5. But the Lions answered right back in the top half of the ninth with six runs – repeating the Broncos' ninth-inning feat from Friday night when they scored six in the ninth to walk off with a series-opening win.
   
• All nine LMU starters had at least one hit and scored at least one run, seven had multiple RBIs and six had multiple hits. Six different Broncos had hits Saturday, including Malcolm Williams' 2-for-4 performance with two RBIs from the ninth spot in the order.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 9: Nine of LMU's 19 hits in the game went for extra bases. The Lions also had nine hits with runners in scoring position, hitting .563 (9 for 16) in that situation.
• 20: The last time the Broncos allowed 20 runs was almost one year ago to the day. Stanford scored 20 runs against Santa Clara at Stephen Schott Stadium last season on May 9, 2023.

NEXT UP

• The series concludes Sunday with first pitch scheduled for noon. The Broncos' will honor 13 seniors (11 student-athletes, two student managers) in a pregame ceremony starting at 11:30 a.m. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links at SantaClaraBroncos.com.