LOS ANGELES — The Santa Clara University baseball team came from behind Thursday and led into the sixth inning, but LMU had its own come-from-behind magic and held on late to win the opening game of the teams' West Coast Conference series, 3-2, at Page Stadium.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• LMU (21-17, 8-5 WCC0 had its clutch moment in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead back for good. LMU's Joe Reid came back from facing an 0-2 count to drive in two runs with an RBI single to left field, putting the Lions ahead, 3-2. Santa Clara reliever Victor Martinez (1-3) had two strikeouts in the inning already, but two seeing-eye singles had given the Lions two base runners. Martinez only needed one more strike against Reid to preserve the Broncos' lead. But his next pitch bounced in the dirt and allowed both runners to move into scoring position, and two pitches later, Reid came through with the clutch base hit.
   
• The Broncos (14-20, 3-7 WCC) erased a deficit for the 18th time this season with two runs in the fourth. Malcolm Williams drove home Dylan Joyce with a one-out single to tie the game at 1-1. Santa Clara went ahead, 2-1, on an error by LMU starter Kenji Pallares (3-3) after he interfered with Andrew Rayment trying to run down the first base line while fielding a groundball.
   
• LMU jumped ahead in the first inning on a two-out solo home run by Nate Savoie, his 10th of the season. It was the only run – and only hit – that starter Max Bayles would allow, throwing 2 1/3 total innings with three strikeouts. Brandon Gomez, the Broncos' usual game one starter, threw 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief with four strikeouts, getting the Broncos into the sixth with a 2-1 lead.
   
• Pallares and reliever Zack Mack retired 12 of the last 13 Broncos they faced from the sixth inning on. That includes seven in a row by Mack, including two strikeouts in the ninth. Mack earned his second save of the season with three shutout innings of relief.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 8: Williams' one-out RBI single in the fourth marked the eighth RBI in nine opportunities this season when he's had a runner on third and less than two outs.
• 14: Bayles, Gomez, Martinez and Caden Wooster combined to strike out 14 LMU batters, tying the Broncos' game high for the season. It was Santa Clara's 10th game this season with at least 10 strikeouts on the mound. It has lost four of its last five such games after starting the season 5-0 with at least 10 Ks in a game.

COMING UP

• Game two of the series is scheduled for a 3 p.m. first pitch on Friday. The finale is slated for 1 p.m. on Saturday. Fans can find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.