Baseball's postseason chances eliminated

By Blake Twisselman

Baseball

Gonzaga 10, SCU 5

Last Friday's series opener against the Gonzaga Bulldogs had a heart-wrenching beginning, with the Broncos giving up five runs in the ninth inning to break open a 5-5 tie as the Bulldogs defeated the Broncos 10-5.

Gonzaga took a 3-0 lead in the top half of the first inning, but Santa Clara scored two in the bottom half. Broncos pitcher Matt Travis worked 3 1/3 innings giving up five earned runs. Santa Clara's Jack Headley went 4-for-5 with two runs and one RBI. Senior Jim Wallace went 3-for-5, while Scott Dierks, David Mandley, and Jason Matteucci each collected two hits.

With the game all tied at 5-5, going into the top of the fifth inning, Gonzaga's Sam Hess hit a grand slam to put the game out of reach.

SCU 8, Gonzaga 1

The Broncos got even with the 'Zags on Sunday with an 8-1 victory at Buck Shaw Stadium.

Pitcher Kellan McConnell pitched eight innings of five hit ball, allowing only one run. He improved his record to 3-4 on the year. Will Thompson and Scott Dierks had three hits a piece for Santa Clara. A.J. LaBarbera hit a three-run-homer in the bottom of the sixth. The home run was LaBarbera's third on the season

Gonzaga 11, SCU 4

Santa Clara lost the final game of the three-game series against the Bulldogs, eliminating them from any chance of playing in the postseason. The loss dropped the Broncos to 18-9 in conference and 28-26 overall

Gonzaga took an 11-0 lead going into the bottom of the eighth, before Scott Dierks broke up the shutout with an RBI groundout.

Santa Clara will finish up the season next weekend with a three game home series against St. Mary's.

Crew

The men's and women's crew teams trekked to Philadelphia this past weekend for the Dad Vail Regatta.

The women's varsity eight crossed the finish line with a time of 7:11.7, good enough to place them sixth in the Petite Finals of their division. Leading the pack was St, Joseph's, with a first place time of 6:47.1. Following close behind, Sacramento State and Lehigh finished second and third, respectively. The fourth and fifth place finishers were Drake and Central Florida. The women's squad came out of the weekend placing 12th out of 41 teams.

The men's varsity eight team fared better than their female counterparts, finishing fourth in the Petite Finals of their division. The team finished with a time of 5:59.8, a mere .4 of a second from third place finisher San Diego. Drexel won the race with Georgia Tech coming in second place.

Both the crew teams close out their seasons this weekend at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships at Lake Natoma, near Sacramento.

Softball

Three Broncos were given all-conference honors on Wednesday. Junior pitcher Jaime Forman-Lau was named first-team all PCSC, and Tracie Hall and Vanessa Werner were named to the second name.

Forman-Lau was named the PCSC pitcher of the year, and Head Coach Marcy Crouch was named Coach of the Year. Crouch led this year's Broncos to the most wins in team history.