Baseball outpitched in LMU series

By Tom Schreier

On what Santa Clara baseball Head Coach Mark O'Brien called the "biggest day of the year," the Broncos unraveled, falling 11-2 to the Loyola Marymount Lions, finishing the day on the wrong end of a weekend sweep.

Santa Clara's record took a hit, currently reading 12-17 on the season.

The Broncos had jumped to an early lead. Senior Curtis Wagner got the first hit of the game in the bottom of the second and crossed the plate after Drew Ozanne, a major league prospect who was drafted out of high school by the Arizona Diamondbacks, reached on an error.

Two-and-a-half innings later, however, the Broncos found themselves down 4-1. Junior J.R. Graham, another major league prospect who was drafted by the A's out of high school, left the game in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and the score at 4-2.

"It was his first start," said O'Brien of Graham, who started the year as the closer and had fanned 26 batters in just over 22 innings played. "[He] just left a couple balls up and that was it."

Freshman left-hander Max Deering entered the game in relief of Graham. After a single pitch he was relieved by Chris Mendoza.

On one pitch Deering had given up a triple and cleared the bases, adding three more runs to Graham's total, ballooning the starter's ERA and leaving teammates crestfallen.

Graham entered the contest with a miniscule 1.59 ERA, which swelled to 3.86 after he gave up eight runs in just over five innings.

"It doesn't matter to me," said Graham in reference to his elevated ERA. "They are just numbers."

In short: the loss itself was more devastating to Graham and his teammates.

The sweep drops Santa Clara to second-to-last in the West Coast Conference standings, while LMU, who entered the series leading the WCC, remains tied with Gonzaga for the lead.

Only 7-22 San Diego has a worse record in the conference.

Team Captain Pat Terry, a senior who joined the Broncos as a walk-on in his sophomore year, has faced adversity in his collegiate career; however, he's completely perplexed by this situation.

Unable to provide an immediate answer to the conundrum that faces his team, Terry stood still as both expression and pigment left his face.

"I don't know man," Terry responded after a long pause, "we just need to get back to who we are. We're not playing like ourselves right now and it's very evident."

"It was a difficult day for us," said O'Brien, who has yet to reach the postseason after a decade at Santa Clara and is in a contract year, "[We] gotta get our identity back."

On Friday and Saturday, the Broncos were unable to get to the Lions' bullpen. LMU starters Jason Wheeler and Alex Gillingham pitched back-to-back complete games.

Wheeler did not give up a run.

The 3-0 loss was not brutal by any stretch of the imagination. Senior Cory Hall pitched a decent game, leaving in the sixth inning having given up all three runs, but was outpitched by Wheeler.

"Cory's outstanding," said O'Brien of his starter. "He gave us a great chance to win and that's what you've got to ask out of your Friday guy."

On Saturday, freshman left-hander Powell Fansler was given the ball in place of sophomores Brock Simon and Chris Mendoza, who typically pitched on the weekends in the non-conference games.

Fansler was awarded the spot after a solid performance in long relief against CSU Bakersfield on April 3.

"For me it's kinda like a save, except it's nine one-inning saves and you're in it from the beginning," said Fansler, who picked up his first loss of the season in the 7-1 blowout. "You don't know which guy's hot at the time so... you've got to keep the ball down."

Fansler worked his way out of a jam in the third inning, giving up only one run despite loading the bases with two outs.

However, the inning exhausted the freshman pitcher and he was chased after five innings.

Pat Terry's seven-game hit streak, which stretched across the series, ended on Tuesday after he went hitless in a 7-2 loss to Cal Poly. Santa Clara is currently on a six-game losing streak after dropping the final game of their 12-game homestand.

The Broncos are 11-8 at home this season.

"There's a lot of baseball left to be played and right now this will test our character," O'Brien said after the sweep on Sunday. "Anybody can do things well when things are going well, but obviously things aren't going very well right now."

The Broncos head to Moraga to take on St. Mary's (14-13, 2-1 WCC) this weekend. They return to Schott Stadium to play Stanford next Tuesday. They have lost two games to the Cardinal in Palo Alto.

Contact Tom Schreier at tschreier@scu.edu or (408) 551-1918.