MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Baseball pulled off a ninth-inning comeback against the BYU Cougars on Thursday evening for a 4-3 victory. The win puts the Gaels at 16-10 on the season and gave them their first WCC win of the season.
 
SMC trailed 3-1 going into the ninth after BYU ace Jack Sterner had another great outing. But the Gaels rallied against the Cougars bullpen, starting with a double into right center by Christian Almanza. That was followed by a rocket off the bat of Chris Santiago that cleared the fence in left field for his sixth home run of the season and the game was tied at 3-3.
 
The Gaels weren't done yet, as Gavin Napier hit a double down the left field line to keep the rally going. The Cougars removed their closer and the next reliever uncorked a wild pitch to advance Napier to third and one more to score him for the walk-off winner.  
 
It was a great moment for Napier in his first game back from injury. He also returned to his old position of second base to start the game, but had a misplay on a potential double play in the second inning. That was followed by a two-RBI double inside the third base line to put BYU up 2-0.
 
The Gaels got their projected ace back on Thursday, as Sam Bower pitched two innings, knocking off some rust and looking good in 40 pitches thrown despite the tough-luck second inning.
 
Saint Mary's got 5.1 strong innings of relief from Ryan Wiltse for his second very good outing in a row as he now has a 2.10 ERA on the season after allowing just a solo home run with one walk and seven strikeouts. Jackson Hulett got the win in relief by pitching a scoreless 1.2 innings.
 
The Gaels got their first run of the game on a Dalton Mashore double that sliced into the gap in the fifth inning to drive in Blake Mann.
 
UP NEXT
Game two with the Cougars is set for 1:00 p.m. at Louis Guisto Field.