Baseball continues trying season
By Philip Keck
The woes of the Santa Clara baseball team continued this weekend as they prolonged their all-too familiar tune of frustration against the visiting Portland Pilots.
The first game of the series witnessed a total of 35 hits and 33 runs cross the plate between the two teams as one team managed to double the score of the other. The Pilots won the contest 22-11.
Sophomore pitcher Chad Filinger was knocked out after only a third of an inning and only junior reliever Matt Krueger, one pitcher of the five sent in after Filinger managed to last more than three innings,
"[It was] very frustrating," Krueger said. "I just wanted to take advantage of my opportunity and do whatever I could to save the bullpen and help the team."
The bright note for the Broncos is they did get 12 hits, including junior A.J. LaBarbera going 3-for-6 with three RBI's, junior catcher Jim Wallace going 2-for-4 and senior rightfielder Joey Gomes hitting his team-leading seventh homerun.
The second game of the series had the Pilots' bats dry up while the Broncos were able to squeeze even more runs out of theirs.
Runs began streaming in off Bronco hits in the fifth when, with freshman Mark Folgner on second and freshman Ryan Pierpont on first, the hot-hitting Gomes doubled into the gap in right center scoring both. Gomes himself would later score in the inning.
In the next inning, Wallace would tie Gomes for the home run lead on the Broncos by sending a solo shot over the outfield wall. However, like the 1998 race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, Gomes-like McGwire would not allow Wallace to share the lead for long as Gomes hit his eighth of the year, a two-run bomb to left center.
The Broncos went on to win the game 8-3 as junior Joe Diefenderfer picked up his third complete game of the year.
"[Game two] was a lot of fun," Diefenderfer said. "We pitched, hit and played solid defense and we are tough to beat on days like that."
Game three of the series saw the Broncos sing a song that they have sung more frequently than the mission sings the Hallelujah during a Mass: the heart-breaking last at-bat defeat.
Working on a five-hit complete game shut-out, junior Matt Travis started the ninth and Portland quickly loaded the bases. With the Broncos now clinging to a 3-1 lead, Pilot Matt Hollod hit a grand slam off the fatiguing Travis, giving the Pilots the runs they needed to win the game 5-3.
"[It was] frustrating. We made a very beatable team look unstoppable," Krueger said. "Portland was able to take advantage of our lack of execution."
The Broncos travel to Los Angeles to play Loyola Marymount this weekend for a three-game series starting this Friday.