SANTA CLARA, Calif. — They're at it again.

After its first four wins of the season came in come-from-behind fashion, the Santa Clara University baseball team is doing it again this weekend, earning its third consecutive comeback win Saturday, erasing a 4-0 deficit to beat UC San Diego, 5-4, and clinch a non-conference series victory at Stephen Schott Stadium.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Tritons (13-13) have scored first in each game of the series. Saturday, it was a big, three-run home run in the third inning that put a crack in the seemingly impenetrable armor of Santa Clara starter Max Bayles. Bayles entered Saturday's contest tied for 15th in the country with 53 strikeouts and ranked No. 22 with a 1.74 ERA. But he wavered a bit in the third after retiring the first six batters he faced.
   
• Bayles issued two walks to the first three Tritons up in the third, then went to a 2-0 count to leadoff man Anthony Potestio before Potestio sent the third pitch he saw over the right-center field fence for a 3-0 lead. Bayles got through the first two innings perfectly with only 24 pitches. It took him 34 pitches to get through the third inning alone. He'd finish the day with four runs allowed on only two hits in 4 1/3 innings pitched, striking out six and walking four.
   
• The Broncos (12-11) picked him up, though. It started in the fifth inning after the Tritons had chased Bayles out of the game with an RBI double from Gabe Camacho to make it 4-0. Koen Carston sparked Santa Clara with a leadoff single on the first pitch he saw. Luke Devine followed that two pitches later with his first career home run, a two-run blast over the Broncos' hitting facility in left-center field, cutting UCSD's lead in half at 4-2.
   
• The comeback charge continued in the sixth with two more runs on three more hits. Dylan Joyce hit a leadoff double and Malcolm Williams brought him home two batters later to make it 4-3. Williams moved himself into scoring position by stealing second and scampering to third on a wild pitch. That's when Carston delivered again, tying the game with a two-out, two-strike RBI single that he lined just out of the reach of a leaping Potestio at shortstop, scoring Williams and making it 4-4.
   
• Nick Fontaine (1-0), who entered in relief in the top of the sixth, went and turned in his best outing as a Bronco now that the game was tied up. The lefty threw 3 1/3 shutout innings, only allowing one hit, walking none and striking out four – his most as a Bronco.
   
• Back on offense, Mateo Garcia delivered the victory for Santa Clara in the seventh with a one-out, solo home run, putting them up for good at 5-4. It was his second home run of the year. UC San Diego threatened to tie it back up in the top of the eighth after Noah Lazuka hit a leadoff triple, but the Broncos pulled the infield in, and Fontaine got a groundout, caught Lazuka off the bag on another chopper back to the mound, and got a strikeout to end the threat and preserve the 5-4 lead.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 10: The Broncos had 10 hits (or more) for the third consecutive game. It was the first time since May 12-17 that they had double-digit hits in three consecutive games, a stretch where they also went 3-0.
• 12: Santa Clara struck out 12 Tritons on Saturday. It was its sixth game this season with double-digit strikeouts, where it's posted a 5-1 record.

COMING UP

• The series finale is scheduled for an 11 a.m. PDT first pitch at Stephen Schott Stadium. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.