SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Two wins, and two comebacks.
 
The Santa Clara University baseball team didn't wait until the ninth inning Sunday to make its comeback, but it still made a come-from-behind push for the second time in three days, clinching a non-conference series victory with an 8-3 triumph in the finale over visiting CSUN at Stephen Schott Stadium.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Sunday's win felt more like a cruise for the Broncos (2-1) rather than the scramble that Friday's walk-off and Saturday's near-comeback was. After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first for the second consecutive day, Santa Clara responded with five runs in the bottom half and never looked back.
   
• Malcolm Williams extended his hitting streak to 10 games in the first inning with a game-tying, two-run double after the Matadors (1-2) loaded the bases on three free passes (two hit-by-pitches, one walk). Dylan Joyce followed him with another two-run double and the Broncos were up for good at 4-2. Thomas Ferroggiaro earned his first hit of the season with a well-placed bunt down the third base line, forcing a bad throw from CSUN starter Jason Davis (0-1), allowing Joyce to score all the way from second and make it 5-2.
   
• Mateo Garcia gave SCU insurance in the fourth with a sacrifice fly, but the Matadors answered right back in the fifth, scoring on a balk after a leadoff walk and two wild pitches put Roberto Gonzalez in scoring position. Dylan Joyce put the game away in the bottom of the seventh with his first home run of the season, an opposite-field, two-run blast over the right field wall to make it 8-3.
   
• Henry Stewart (1-0) earned his first career victory after throwing a career-long 3 1/3 innings in relief. He got the Broncos out of a rough first inning with CSUN threatening. Each of the Matadors' first four batters reached safely on three walks and a two-run double, and they were looking for more. Stewart got a runner thrown out trying to steal, then allowed two more base runners to load the bases, but he got Royce Clayton Jr. to ground into an inning-ending double play, sending the Broncos to their go-ahead turn at bat in the bottom half.
   
• Max Bayles also shut down CSUN to lead Santa Clara to victory. He struck out a career-high nine in 4 2/3 of relief, only allowing one run on one hit. Caden Wooster threw a shutout frame in the ninth with a strikeout to close out the game.
   
• No Matador had more than one hit on the day, as they were limited to only four knocks as a team after totaling 21 in the first two games. Joyce and Payton Lambert (2 for 2) each had multi-hit games for Santa Clara.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 4: Joyce's first home run of the year comes four weeks earlier than his first long ball last season, which came on March 17, 2024 (fifth week of the season). The slugger set records at NCAA Division III Puget Sound with 39 career home runs and now has 42 in his entire collegiate career.
• 5: This weekend's series victory marked the first time in five years the Broncos won a season-opening series, since sweeping San Jose State in four games on Feb. 14-16, 2020. They split a four-game series, 2-2, with Washington in 2023.

COMING UP

• The Broncos hit the road for the first time in 2025 with a three-game non-conference series at UC Dais starting Friday. Fans can find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.