Baseball rolls a seven in Vegas

By MATTHEW FISCHER

The Bronco baseball team took a big step in turning its season around last weekend by capturing the championship of the UNLV/Coors Tournament in Las Vegas.

The Broncos went 4-1 on the weekend with two wins over Cal State Northridge and single victories over Oregon State and Michigan State. Santa Clara opened the tournament on Thursday, losing 12-6 to the host Rebels of UNLV. After giving up a five-run second inning, the Broncos tried to make a game of it, scoring two in the 4th, one in the 6th, two in the 7th and one in the 8th, but the Las Vegas offense was too much as they pounded out 21 hits and 12 runs to earn the victory.

The Broncos got on track Friday in game two of the tournament. Friday's opponent was Oregon State, a team the Broncos swept in a four game series at Buck Shaw Stadium last season. This game would be reminiscent of that series as the Broncos pulled out the 12-10 victory in a 12-inning thriller. The Broncos jumped out to a 10-3 lead thanks to the bats of junior Mike Balestreri's 3-5 day at the plate and three RBI from senior Elliot Wheeler and two more from Hinton.

Along with the strong offensive showing early, senior starting pitcher Camden Kelley continued his dominance of OSU, throwing seven innings and surrendering only six hits and three runs. Last season Kelley threw eight innings of shutout ball with a torn cornea in a 1-0 Bronco win over the Beavers.

After Kelley left the game, the Beavers pushed around three Bronco relievers for seven runs in the eighth innings to tie the score. However, junior Jim DeMartini came on to throw four innings of shutout ball and put out the fire. His strong four innings resulted in his first collegiate victory. In the 12th, the Broncos put men on second and third with two outs thanks to a pair of walks, a bunt and a stolen base for junior third baseman Matt Queen. Queen lined a base hit to right center to score the game winning runs.

On Saturday, the Broncos continued their winning ways with a 9-4 victory over Cal State Northridge. Freshman lefthander Matt Travis was brilliant on the mound, throwing a complete game to earn the victory. Clinging to a 5-4 lead in the 7th, the Broncos exploded for four runs in the inning to seal the victory. The four runs were driven in by consecutive singles by sophomore Joey Gomes, freshman Jack Headley, junior Matt Miller and junior Norm Hayes. Offensively, the Broncos got some timely hitting from the whole lineup, including a two-run home run by Balestreri, the first of his career. Along with Balestreri's bomb, the Bronco offense was led by Gomes's 3-4 day. The Broncos entered Sunday facing a doubleheader but with the opportunity to win the tournament.

They need to defeat Northridge for a second time and then knock off Michigan State before racing to catch their flight home. The Broncos threw the staff at Northridge, sending DeMartini, senior Dave Battagin, sophomore Grant Feichtmeier and junior Chris Jakubauskas to the mound. The foursome combined to keep the Broncos in the game and let their bats do the work. The offense responded with 14 runs including a six-run ninth to secure the victory. DeMartini picked up his second victory of the tournament and Jakubauskas his first Division I save. Both Wheeler and Gomes hit their first homeruns of the season to pace the Bronco offense.

In the nightcap, the Broncos topped the Spartans of Michigan State in a game that would be limited to seven innings by the weather and both teams travel arrangements. The Broncos return to action this weekend with a three-game set with No. 2 Stanford.The Broncos will visit the Cardinal Friday night at 7 p.m. in the series opener at Sunken Diamond.