BASE | Gaels Salvage Final Game against Cal with 8-3 Win

Sunday, March 7

Moraga, CA

1:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

6-6

Cal

7-5

California

Saint Mary's College

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

BASE | Gaels Salvage Final Game against Cal with 8-3 Win

3/7/2021 5:17:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Baseball was in desperate need of a win on Sunday afternoon. After dropping the first three games against the Cal Golden Bears, including a pair of winnable games on Friday and Saturday, SMC needed to play one of their best games of the season. That they did, using all facets of the game to knock down Cal: offense, defense, and pitching. The end result was an 8-3 win for the Gaels to salvage the final game of the series, putting Saint Mary's at an even 6-6 mark while sending the Bears to 7-5.

TWO TRIPS TO THE BANK(S)
Sunday afternoon is not the most conventional time for a trip to the bank, but Saint Mary's visited twice on Sunday. Justin Banks helped provide the biggest blows of the afternoon to Cal, with his first multi-home run game as a Gael. In the second inning, Banks delivered a towering home run to deep right field that capped off a six-run inning for Saint Mary's, this one being a two-run shot. The Gaels did not score again until Banks led off the seventh inning by launching the first pitch he saw down the line and into the trees, making it 7-2 SMC. Banks now has five home runs on the season, which is already more than the Gaels hit during the entire shortened 2020 season.

THE ROAD TO SIX
The sixth win of the year for Saint Mary's featured a six-run second inning that was capped off by the Banks home run. The Gaels did plenty of damage prior to the bomb, with the first five batters of the inning reaching base safely. Chris Santiago and Nick Mistone opened up the inning with singles, and then JC Santini and Christopher Campos walked, with the Campos free pass bringing home the game's first run. Eric Smelko took a 1-1 pitch through the right side for an RBI single, making it 2-0. The next two Gaels brought home runs on outs, as Jacob Talamante beat out a fielder's choice for a run, and then Ryan Novis hit a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 4-0.

FIRST START, FIRST WIN
Ryan Taurek made his first start of the season for Saint Mary's and he delivered in a big way. Taurek pitched into the sixth inning, allowing just four hits and one earned run, with three walks and four strikeouts. He did just enough to induce weak contact all afternoon from the Bears. After allowing a leadoff single on the first pitch of the game, Taurek did not allow his next hit until the fourth inning. Liam Steigerwald and Michael Hobbs pitched the final four innings of the game to hold onto the first win of 2021 for Taurek.

DEFENSE SHINES
A few big plays were made late in the game by the defense that kept Cal off the board. In the sixth, with Steigerwald having just taken over Taurek, the Bears loaded the bases with nobody out, down 6-2. Steigerwald was able to get out of the jam unscathed, ending the inning with a nicely turned double play up the middle, going 6-4-3. In the eighth, also with Steigerwald pitching and two runners aboard, Cole Elvis sent a deep fly ball to right field that Novis leaped up and caught at the wall for his best defensive play of the year. That helped Steigerwald cap off three scoreless innings, and keep the Gaels in front.

UP NEXT
Saint Mary's will be back in action against Pacific next weekend for a four-game non-conference series with the Tigers. Friday's game will begin at 6:00 pm, and then the two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday at 2:00 pm. The series will shift to Moraga on Sunday as they conclude their four-game tilt at 1:00 pm on March 14.

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