LAS VEGAS – Saint Mary's Baseball was eliminated from the WCC Tournament after a great run on Friday night, dropping the first game of the day 17-3 to the Santa Clara Broncos and game two 8-4 to the Portland Pilots.
 
It felt like the five-seed Gaels had been playing with house money after eliminating the four-seed USD and beating the one-seed LMU, but their heater eventually came to an end on Friday. The Gaels got quality starts from Connor Linchey and Ryan Sanders in their two wins to start the tournament, but couldn't keep their run alive when they had to exclusively use the pen in the semifinal round. SMC had survived some third games of a series during the year using bullpen games after the loss of the team's initial Friday starter Derik Eaquinto to a wrist injury on his throwing hand, but the semifinal round of the WCC Tournament wouldn't be one of those times.
 
Had the Gaels defeated the Broncos they could have avoided the second game, but the loss meant they had to take on Portland in the night cap after the Pilots eliminated one-seed LMU in the afternoon. Both early games ran long, so the final game of the WCC triple header didn't begin until 9:33 p.m. and didn't end until 12:38 a.m.
 
GAME ONE
Things went the Broncos way right away, as starter Ryan Taurek was uncharacteristically wild. The senior issued a pair of one-out walks before a single in to left put the Broncos up 1-0. Taurek would get a strikeout and a flyout though to end the inning and keep the damage to just one run.
 
That loomed large at the time, as Bill Ralston tied the game up with a solo home run (10) onto the grass beyond the right-field fence to make it 1-1. But that new game and momentum would be short lived, as a hit by pitch, a single, and a walk loaded the bases with no one out in the second.
 
Preston Howey would check into the game and induced a ground out that scored a run to make it a 2-1 Broncos lead. That was followed by a single and an error in center that plated two runs, and a wild pitched that scored another for a 4-1 Broncos lead.
 
Another wild pitch in the fourth would put the Broncos up 6-1, and two doubles and two singles off freshman Jason Reitz in the fifth extended the Santa Clara lead to 9-1. The Broncos would hit a two-run dinger in the seventh for an 11-1 lead.
 
Saint Mary's would get a couple of runs back on a two-RBI double by Gavin Napier to make it 13-3 Santa Clara. However, the Broncos would tack on four more in the top of the ninth as the Gaels used freshman, back-up catcher Nathan Kirpatrick to eat up an inning and spare the bullpen.
 
GAME TWO
In the night cap against Portland it would be the Gaels own mistakes that would keep them from advancing to the championship game. SMC committed four errors, issued 10 walks, threw two wild pitches, and hit a batter. Of the eight runs they allowed, only three were earned.
 
The first miscue occurred on a Napier error at second after an infield hit. Napier tried to get the runner advancing to third, but the throw was wild and led to the first run of the game coming in. The second error was on a pickoff attempt from starting pitcher Garret Plata over the head of Christian Almanza at first which scored a run to make 2-0 Portland.
 
Napier would even the score up though in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer to make it a 2-2 game. The home run was his eighth of the season and second of the tournament.
 
Portland would take advantage of a couple more defensive miscues by Saint Mary's to reclaim the lead in the top of the fourth. A dropped ball at second on a potential double play ball scored a run, followed by a two-run single that made it 5-2 Pilots. The most tough-luck error of the night happened as Napier made a great play to get to a grounded deep into the hole in shallow right. As he popped up to make the throw his back foot slipped out from under him, causing him to fall and make an errant throw to first that scored a run for a 6-2 Portland lead.
 
The Gaels got a couple runs back though in the bottom of the inning by putting the ball in play up the middle and showing some hustle on the bases. A Jared Mettam double to right center was followed by an Eddie Madrigal single to make it 6-3 Pilots. Then a Mashore infield single up the middle was followed by a fielder's choice at second and a Portland error that allowed Madrigal to score to cut it to a 6-4 game.
 
Ryan Wiltse came in to stop the bleeding in the fourth inning and would go on to throw four shutout innings, before the Pilots finally got to him in the eighth, by stringing together three doubles for two runs and an 8-4 lead.
 
Saint Mary's wasn't able to get anything more going the rest of the way against the Pilots starter, Peter Allegro, who went eight innings allowing three earned runs. He went seven innings and allowed just two runs in his previous outing against the Gaels earlier this season.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Almanza and Schmidt both finished the season with the second-most home runs in a single season in SMC history with 16, trailing only Troy Channing's 20 long balls in 2009.
 
It was the third time in program history the Gaels advanced to the semifinals of the WCC Tournament, including their championship in 2016.