Santa Clara wins Commissioner's Cup

By Cecile Nguyen

With a single swing of the bat, Santa Clara secured the West Coast Conference Commissioner's Cup for the second time in three years, narrowly beating out Pepperdine University.

The Broncos baseball team clinched the Commissioner's Cup for the university with their victory over University of San Diego on May 13.

The score was tied heading into the bottom of the ninth inning when senior Carl Bacon hit a two-out RBI double that gave the Broncos a 6-5 win.

"It was quite a dramatic finish," said Athletic Director Dan Coonan.

The WCC Commissioner's Cup is awarded to teams based on a point system. Points accumulated throughout the year, based on a team's finish in league competition, are added together to produce a department-wide score.

The top finisher is awarded eight points, with each other team receiving one fewer in descending order.

As the chase for the Cup tightened with only baseball standings unaccounted for, the Broncos' 61 total points led the Waves' 57.5 points by a slim margin.

A win over the Toreros meant that the Bronco baseball team would finish with at least three points, while Pepperdine, who was third in the standings, would finish with six. This gave the Broncos a narrow margin of victory.

Nine of 13 Santa Clara teams placed in the top four during the 2006-2007 seasons.

"It was a community effort and something great for all teams to look back at their seasons and take pride in what they accomplished," said Coonan.

All four fall sports finished in the top half of their respective standings, with both men's and women's soccer sweeping the WCC Championship, providing Santa Clara with a huge lead over the competition.

The women's volleyball and men's cross country teams finished in third place in their respective standings.

The men's basketball team helped Santa Clara maintain their lead with a second place finish in the WCC.

But Pepperdine challenged the Broncos for the lead during the spring season. The Waves won both the golf and tennis titles, but the second place finish of the women's crew team was enough to maintain a slim lead.

In the WCC Commissioner's Cup six-year history, Santa Clara has won the award twice and been runner-up four times.

"We don't have the most scholarship money," said Coonan. "We have to get the most out of what we have, and I think winning this really shows what we are capable of."

Contact Cecile Nguyen at cnguyen5@scu.edu.