MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Baseball returned to WCC play on Friday afternoon with their series opener against Santa Clara. Stuck on a three-game losing streak, the Gaels sought to break out of an April funk that had seen them drop five of their first seven games in the month. That they did thanks to big hits from the bottom of the order, a big relief outing, and a stellar team effort in a 7-3 win over the Broncos. Saint Mary's improves to 15-16 and 5-8 in WCC play while Santa Clara also stands at 5-8 in the conference, and 12-18 overall.
 
YOUNG GUN COMES THROUGH
Drawing just his second start of the season, Gavin Napier was instrumental in getting the Gaels offense clicking. Batting in the seventh spot, Napier came up in the third inning and led off with his first collegiate extra-base hit, a double down the right field line. In the sixth inning, he was jammed on a 1-2 pitch but lofted a shallow base hit to left field that broke a 3-3 tie and gave Saint Mary's the lead, one they would not relinquish. That was the first RBI in the collegiate career of Napier, who entered the afternoon with just five at bats this year. He finished 2-3 with a run scored and one run driven in, while also walking once.
 
RELIEF ACE
Gaels fans are so accustomed to seeing Carlos Lomeli dominate a game from atop the Saint Mary's rotation, but it is unfamiliar to see him do that out of the bullpen. Lomeli was lights out in relief on Friday, entering in the top of the fifth inning with two outs and finishing the game outright. He needed 66 pitches to get the final 4.1 innings, while allowing just one base hit, two walks, and mixing in five strikeouts. The outing earned Lomeli his third win of the season, while dropping his ERA back down to under 5.00 at 4.98.
 
BRINGING BACK THE POWER
The first run of the afternoon for Saint Mary's was scored in a big way, with Justin Banks providing the lumber. Saint Mary's, and Justin Banks for that matter, had not homered since April 2, but that changed in the fourth inning. Banks turned on a 1-1 pitch from Russell Grant and demolished it with a towering home run to straight-away right field to give Saint Mary's a 1-0 lead. For Banks, it was his seventh home run of 2021 and puts him in a tie for second place in the WCC in home runs.
 
ADDING ON
One of the best things the Gaels did on Friday afternoon was tack on runs inning after inning. After the Banks home run in the fourth, the Gaels tied the game in the fifth thanks to a two-run single to center by Kyle Velazquez, part of a three-hit performance for the Gaels shortstop. Napier's single in the sixth gave the Gaels a 4-3 lead, and then three more runs scored in the bottom of the seventh. Velazquez opened the inning with a double to deep center, and he came in to score on a Nick Mistone groundball up the middle for a single. Three batters later, with two outs in the inning, JC Santini sent one to the warning track in centerfield for another double, this time scoring Mistone and Banks, and capping the insurance runs and the scoring at 7-3
 
UP NEXT
Game two of the three-game series between Saint Mary's and Santa Clara gets underway on Saturday at 1:00 pm. Sam Bower will go to the mound for the Gaels as they search for their first WCC series win of the 2021 season, but this also is the first time Saint Mary's has won a series-opening game in conference play.