SPOKANE, Wash. - If things couldn't get worse for Saint Mary's, Saturday starter
Donovan Chriss was scratched just moments before the start of game two. Head coach
Eric Valenzuela and his staff had to make a quick decision and they turned to senior lefty
Dylan Delvecchio. "Donovan made a really mature decision to let us know about his injury, it's always a tough decision to put the team first like that but we had to make a quick decision and went to Delvecchio to start the game" said head coach Valenzuela. Baseball is a funky game and it proved that again tonight as Delvecchio went on to throw his best outing of the season with a career high seven innings pitched allowing three runs off six hits with five strikeouts.
"We're super proud of Delvecchio, it was arguably our best start of the year as a team. Just one walk and being able to command all four pitches, it was an absolutely special performance from him" (Valenzuela). The Gaels went down 3-2 in the fourth but responded with three runs in the top half of the fifth thanks to a solo home run from
Ryan Pierce and an RBI double from
Ian Armstrong. Saint Mary's led by as many as three-runs and senior reliever
Derik Eaquinto was able to come in and get the two-inning save for his third of the season. Valenzuela also made some changes in Saturday's lineup that paid off including freshman
Brady Petit getting the start at third where he went 2-for-5 on the night.
Brian Duroff came out of the DH spot to play right field and
Ryan Pierce moved over to first in Place of Madrigal who held down the designated hitter spot for the night.
The magic number for the Gaels is down to one or a Santa Clara loss tomorrow to clinch a spot in the WCC Tournament. Saint Mary's out hit Gonzaga 13-9 and walked just two batters in the game to come out on the winning side of another thriller at Patterson Baseball Complex in Spokane.
HOW IT HAPPENED…
5TH INNING
Down 3-2 to start the fifth,
Ryan Pierce would jump on the first pitch of the inning and smash a hooking home run into the left field netting for his 12th of the season. The Zags one-run lead was short lived as Pierce tied the game up in the fifth.
Three batters later with runners on,
Ian Armstrong would single back up the middle to score
Brian Duroff from second and allow the Gaels to retake a 4-3 lead. Armstrong was stellar both behind the plate and at the dish, finishing 3-for-4 and making several key stops on balls in the dirt.
7TH INNING
Back-to-back hits from Pierce and Duroff would put runners on second and third with no outs to start the seventh inning. Two batters later,
Jared Mettam would ground out to short to score Pierce from third and then Armstrong would come up with another clutch hit with a double to the left-center gap. He would plate Duroff for his third hit of the night and give Saint Mary's a 6-3 lead.
Delvecchio retired six of the next seven batters he faced to conclude his evening and leave the game with a 6-3 lead going into the eighth inning, an absolute magical performance from the southpaw.
9TH INNING
With the way things went Friday night, both teams knew this game still had some fireworks left in it.
Derik Eaquinto would come out for the final two innings. Eaquinto pounded the zone but surrendered a solo shot in the eighth to cut the lead to two.
After finishing the eighth, he would come back out for the ninth seeking his third save of the season. Eaquinto was effective with his changeup and his slider but an infield single up the middle would put the leadoff runner on base. The next batter would ground a ball to second but the Gaels infield would get the putout at second for the first out of the inning.
On another ground ball the next at-bat, a throwing error from third would put runners on the corners with just one out. Nonetheless, Eaquinto kept firing strikes and induced a ground ball to second for the second out of the inning. The runner would come home to score from third but the Gaels were more than willing to trade a run for an out with a two-run cushion.
After a wild pitch to move the runner to second, Valenzuela and his staff would elect to intentionally walk Mikey Bell for the second consecutive night. Eaquinto then got the next batter to ground out to
Cody Kashimoto at second to end another thriller and give Saint Mary's the 6-5 victory.
"Our guys have been through a lot this season," said Valenzuela. "We've had a lot of high points and a lot of low points. We had a similar situation losing a game late against LMU at home but I had no doubt our guys were gonna be able to bounce back and play tough tonight. We could've mailed it in after the news with Chriss but we geared up and went to battle tonight".
Delvecchio earned his fourth win of the season in one of the most memorable games of the year. He also become just the second pitcher all season to complete seven innings with the other being
Donovan Chriss against San Diego State back on March 1st. Eaquinto bumped his save total to three to lead the team and rank eighth in the WCC. Armstrong was huge again for the Gaels with three hits and a pair of RBI while Pierce and
Aiden Taurek each homered on the night, the second of the series for Pierce.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's improved to 27-23 overall and 11-9 in conference play and can clinch a spot in this year's conference tournament with either a win or a Santa Clara loss tomorrow afternoon. The series finale with Gonzaga is slated for a 3:00 PM start and you can catch all the action live on ESPN+.
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