SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Conner Roberts and Connor Linchey combined to shut out the Broncos (18-15, 7-7) as Saint Mary's (21-14, 5-9) took game two of the series in Santa Clara 5-0.
 
Roberts (3-1) notched a career high in innings pitched by going seven innings and allowing just two hits with three walks and five strikeouts. A reliever at UC Santa Barbara, Roberts previous high in innings was six shutout, one-hit frames with the Gaels on February 27.
 
The Gaels jumped out on top in the first again on Christian Almanza's 12th double on the year to score Gavin Napier, and a Chris Santiago two-run homer (8) made it 3-0. SMC tacked on another run when Seth Nager powered up out of the nine spot for his second home run of the season and a 4-0 Gaels lead.
 
Saint Mary's loaded the bases in the fifth and Christopher Campos walked to make it 5-0 before the Broncos made a move to the bullpen to get out of the jam.
 
Santa Clara had a runner on in 6th with two outs when what was initially called a swing and a miss for a third strike was changed to foul ball after the umpires discussed it. The teams came back out of their dugouts for another 3-2 pitch with two outs and Roberts got the strikeout anyway.
 
Roberts threw 102 pitches and Head Coach Greg Moore left him in to finish off the seventh after a mound visit. The Gaels starter got a pop with the bases loaded to end the threat and rewarded his manager's, and his own confidence, in being able to finish off the inning..
 
Connor Linchey threw two scoreless innings to close it out for Saint Mary's, allowing three hits with no walks and striking out three batters.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
The Gaels are now 10-0 when they don't commit an error this season and 10-0 when they allow two runs or less. They're now 18-3 when they outhit their opponent and 10-5 when they score in the first inning.
 
Almanza finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI and Santiago was 2 for 4 with one run scored and two RBI. It was Almanza's 15th multi-hit game and the sixth time he and Santiago have had multi-RBI games.
 
UP NEXT
Game three of the series with the Broncos will be at 2:00 p.m. in Santa Clara on Friday.