SAN DIEGO — First-place San Diego wasn't going to get off that easy in Friday's series opener.
 
The Santa Clara University baseball team came from behind multiple times and pushed the host Toreros to 13 innings before finally succumbing to a walk-off single, as San Diego escaped with a narrow, 6-5, walk-off victory in the teams' West Coast Conference series opener at Fowler Park.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Friday's game wouldn't even have gone into extras had it not been for Michael O'Hara's ninth-inning heroics. O'Hara hit his second ninth-inning, game-tying home run of the season on the first pitch he saw, tying the game at 5-5 when the Broncos (21-21, 8-8 WCC) were trailing by one with two outs and the bases empty, down to their last out. Ben Steck followed with a two-out single to put the go-ahead run on base, but that's where the rally ended.
   
• Blake Hammond (2-4) entered in relief for the bottom of the ninth and threw four shutout, one-hit innings to get the Broncos into the 13th inning. But the offense couldn't reward Hammond for his work. Santa Clara had runners on in all four extra innings, including four in scoring position, but all seven runners it put on base after the ninth inning were stranded. The Broncos would strand 17 total runners on the night and go 4 for 17 with runners in scoring position.
   
• San Diego finally got to Hammond in his fifth inning of work. After Hammond's third strikeout of his outing to start the bottom of the 13th, three consecutive singles across a total of four pitches brought the winning run home. It was Jack Gurevitch's first-pitch single into center field that brought home Angelo Peraza to end the game.
   
• The lead changed hands multiple times between the fourth and sixth innings. Ariel Armas' first of two home runs, a two-out solo shot in the fourth inning, put USD up, 2-1. The Broncos answered right back in the top of the fifth with an RBI triple from JonJon Berring and an RBI bunt single from Coleman Brigman to go up, 3-2. Berring tripled home another run in the top of the sixth to make it 4-2, but Armas' second home run, this time a three-run shot in the bottom half of the sixth, put the Toreros back up, 5-4.
   
• Robert Hipwell gave the Broncos an early lead in the top of the first inning with his first home run of the year. He hit a deep blast over the right-center field fence to put Santa Clara up, 1-0. San Diego answered in the bottom half with a two-out rally, getting two walks and two singles, the second an RBI knock from Austin Smith to make it 1-1.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 3: Payton Lambert had a season-high three hits, his first career multi-hit game. He was one of four Broncos who had three hits Friday.
• 15: Santa Clara had 15 hits in the game, tied for its fourth-most in a game this year. The Broncos outhit the Toreros, 15-12. Friday was only their fifth defeat when outhitting their opponent.

NEXT UP

• The series continues Saturday with another night game, as game two is scheduled for a 5 p.m. first pitch. The series then wraps at 1 p.m. Sunday before the Broncos return to the Bay Area for their final home stand of the year.