Broncos sweep Dons off diamond
By Philip Keck
Santa Clara University outscored the University of San Francisco 23-7 en route to a three-game sweep of their bay-area rivals.
Game one of the series was "Take Me Out to the Ballgame Night," celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1962 Santa Clara team.
The legendary Broncos advanced to the final game of the College World Series, but lost to Michigan in the title game.
The Dons began the game by scoring once in the first and again in the third, and the game went into the bottom of the fifth with the Broncos trailing 4-2.
With junior David Mandley on first from an infield single, senior Joey Gomes came up and slashed a double off the center field wall, scoring Mandley.
Senior Pat Peavey then sent Gomes home with a single and he himself scored when freshman Shawn Epindendio singled. Junior catcher Jim Wallace finished the Broncos' string of hits with another run-scoring single as Peavey and Epindendio crossed the plate on a Don error.
In total, the Broncos scored five runs on five hits in the fifth, taking the lead 7-4.
USF's bats were silenced until the top of the ninth with senior A. J. Ampi pitching.
Working on his fourth inning of the night, Ampi allowed the lead to slip as USF scored two runs which brought the Dons menacing within one.
However, the ghosts of the 1962 Bronco World Series team would not allow a Santa Clara loss on their day, and San Francisco's rally was halted with Ampi picking up his first win of the season and the Broncos winning 7-6.
The penultimate game of the series had the Broncos storming out early and often, flooding the scoreboard with numbers in both the hit and run categories. Bronco offense started by scoring the first run of the game in the second, which was followed up by Santa Clara's sending three runs home in each of the next three innings bringing the score to stand at 10-0 by the end of five.
Scoring twice more in the sixth, the Broncos brought the lead to 12-0 before junior pitcher Joe Diefenderfer gave up his only run of the day on his way to his second complete game victory of the season.
The Dons did manage 13 hits off of Diefenderfer, but he was able to hold them when it mattered, allowing only the one run and winning 12-1. The Broncos had 19 hits.
The final game of the series saw the Broncos jump out to a quick lead with two runs in the second. Santa Clara then notched two more runs onto the board as starting pitcher junior Matt Travis and his relief completely shut out the Dons on the day, 4-0.
Santa Clara takes on the West Coast Conference division leader, the University of San Diego this weekend in San Diego.