STOCKTON, Calif. — One swing was all it took to change Friday night's West Coast Conference series opener between the Santa Clara University baseball team and host Pacific, as the Tigers came from behind and held on late to beat the Broncos, 3-1, at Klein Family Field.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Max Bayles (3-3) was cruising Friday, only allowing three hits and striking out seven while shutting out the Tigers (13-23, 5-8 WCC) through the first six innings of the game. He came back out to start the seventh, but immediately ran into trouble. Robert Orr drew a leadoff walk, and two pitches later, Rylan Evans hit a go-ahead, two run home run over the left field wall to put the Tigers ahead for good at 2-1.
   
• The Broncos (14-22, 3-10 WCC) had led 1-0 for most of the night. Two free passes to start the third inning, followed by three consecutive fly outs brought in Santa Clara's only run, courtesy of a Johnny Luetzow sacrifice fly. The Broncos had other opportunities, but they stranded eight runners on base – four in scoring position. The Broncos fought until the end. They put runners on the corners with no outs in the eighth, looking for a game-tying rally, but struck out and hit into a double play. They got the leadoff batter on again in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate, but again hit into a double play and struck out to end the game.
   
• Zach Todd went head-to-head with Bayles, only allowing one run in six innings, striking out six in a no-decision. Regan Carter (2-3) got the win for Pacific after throwing a scoreless seventh, and Carson Revay earned his sixth save of the year with two shutout innings, escaping jams in both the eighth and ninth innings with double plays.
   
• Luetzow reached base three times, going 2 for 2 with an RBI and a walk. Andrew Rayment and Max Ross also had base hits for Santa Clara. Cooper Lanz threw two innings of relief, only allowing a single unearned run while striking out two against his former team. Lanz played his freshman season of 2023 with Pacific.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 8: Bayles is now only eight strikeouts away from tying for 10th on the Santa Clara career record list. He has 77 Ks in 2026 and 231 in his career.
• 15: Luetzow extended his active reached base streak to 15 games Friday with two hits and a walk. He's reached base in all but one of his 22 games played this year.

COMING UP

• Game two of the series is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday. Fans can find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.