Baseball drops two at Gonzaga
By Philip Keck
Ups and downs dictated the weekend for Santa Clara baseball as they left the roller coaster series, dropping two out of three to Gonzaga and putting their playoff hopes out of their control.
Game one of the series saw Bronco junior Matt Travis face off against Bulldog Brent Dayton in a tightly played pitching duel. Each pitcher gave up only one run during eight innings of play. After Dayton held the lead through the ninth inning, Travis came in for Santa Clara to try and hold Gonzaga and send the game into extra innings.
The first batter faced by Travis singled to left field and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by the next batter. Sophomore pitcher Chad Fillinger came in to try to get out of the jam, but gave up a single instead, scoring the runner and ending the game with the Broncos losing 2-1.
When considering the cozy dimensions of Gonzga's August/A.R.T. S. stadium, junior catcher Jim Wallace was surprised by the low-scoring nature of the game.
"It was one of the craziest games that I have ever played," he said. "The ball flys out of [that stadium]."
The next game saw a hitting duel take place between the two teams as the Broncos reached the high point of the series. Both pitchers were knocked from the game early as the teams continued to swap the lead until the top of the sixth.
With one out, Wallace began the scoring with a home run to left field, his twelfth of the season. The Bronco scoring run continued later in the inning with junior infielder Scott Dierks on second and freshman first baseman Shawn Epindendio on third. Freshman third baseman Mark Folgner doubled down the left field line, scoring Epindendio. Next, freshman outfielder Ryan Chiarelli reached base on a fielder's choice, scoring Epindendio and advancing Folgner to third. Junior second baseman A. J. LaBarbera continued the Bronco hitting by knocking another double, scoring Folgner. The five-run inning ended with Wallace striking out swinging with the bases loaded.
This rally gave the Broncos a lead that they would hold for the rest of the game, winning it 12-10. Folgner was 4 for 5 on the day with two runs batted in and three runs scored. He also hit his first home run of the year.
The rubber match of the series saw the Bronco roller coaster hitting its lowest point of the series.
Santa Clara took the lead in the top of the first with an RBI single by junior center fielder Jack Headley that scored LaBarbera from second. This would be the only lead of the day for the Broncos as the Bulldogs pulled four runs out in their half of the inning and then seven more in the fourth off of sophomore starting pitcher John Redmond. Redmond was shelled for eleven hits, though he earned only four of the runs.
At this point the scoring slowed as Bronco firemen junior Matt Krueger, sophomore Patrick McBride and senior A.J. Ampi put out most of the Gonzaga fire. The deficit was too much for the Broncos to handle, however, and they ended up dropping the game 15-4 to the host Bulldogs.
The Broncos lost the series 2-1, putting them two games behind first place Pepperdine, who swept Saint Mary's in a four game series.
In order for the Broncos to make the playoffs, Gonzaga must take at least two out of three victories from Pepperdine and sweep Saint Mary's in Moraga this weekend.
"We really want to go up there and pound [Saint Mary's] because they came down here and took two out of three from us at home," Wallace said. "We have some revenge for them."