MORAGA, Calif. - In classic Saint Mary's fashion, the Gaels won another wild one on Senior Day as they overcame a six-run deficit to complete the series sweep over Santa Clara with a 12-10 victory. They tied their season high with 18 hits in the contest and eight runs over the final three innings to seal the comeback win. Portland was unable to defeat Gonzaga in their rubber match so the Gaels will officially be named the three seed for the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas.
The Gaels went down 7-1 after the first three innings as Santa Clara had five hits and took advantage of a pair of defensive miscues from Saint Mary's early in the game. The Gaels are no strangers to playing from behind and they proved that again today as they went on to outscore the Broncos 11-3 over the final six innings.
Daniel Guevara Castro, Elliot Joslin and
Sean Cannon helped steady the ship in the middle innings, putting up scoreless frames in the fourth, fifth and seventh inning.
The bats then came alive with a three-run sixth thanks to home runs from
Diego Castellanos and
Eddie Madrigal and then another four runs in the seventh with RBI hits from
Jared Mettam,
Ian Armstrong and again Madrigal. In fitting fashion,
Derik Eaquinto would come in for the ninth and record his fourth save of the season for fourth most in the WCC.
The Gaels are now primed for a rematch with the San Francisco Dons who they dropped two games against in their conference series opener way back in March. Saint Mary's is a much different ball club then they were to start the season and will enter the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the conference with five straight conference series wins.
HOW IT HAPPENED…
Freshman
Sam Kretsch would get the start for the Gaels as they went with a more non-traditional starting rotation for the series finale with the conference tournament starting on Wednesday of next week. Kretsch was clean through the first frame but four unearned runs would come across in the second thanks to two Saint Mary's errors.
Justin Samtiago would finish the second inning but get replaced himself in the third after a three-run homer from Santa Clara's Kai Cunningham, just his first of the season. The Broncos surprisingly led 7-1 through three innings of play.
4TH INNING
The offense finally broke out in the fourth inning as Saint Mary's answered with three runs to make it a 7-4 ballgame.
Jared Mettam sliced an RBI single down the right field line with one out to score
Ryan Pierce. After a mound visit from the Broncos skipper,
Ian Armstrong would follow Mettam's lead with a single into center to score
Diego Castellanos.
The inning would be capped off by a ground ball RBI from the conference leader,
Eddie Madrigal. Madrigal had runners on the corners with one out and rolled a ball to second but was able to beat out the double play to reach first safely and score Mettam.
The momentum would be short lived though for the Gaels as Santa Clara answered again with three runs in the top of the fifth. Redshirt freshman
Finn Chapman would start the fifth but hit back-to-back batters with one out, forcing Valenzuela to the bullpen to call upon
Daniel Guevara Castro. Castro would trade a run for an out, inducing a sacrifice fly from the first batter but the Broncos would come up with a pair of clutch two-out RBI hits to take a 10-4 lead.
6TH INNING
After going down in order in the fifth, Saint Mary's would answer yet again with three runs in the bottom half of the sixth. Time and time again the Gaels have shown why they are the best offense in the conference and it's their resiliency as a team and their ability to hit one through nine in the order.
The sixth inning rally started in the bottom half of the order thanks to a no-doubter from
Diego Castellanos to right field, his sixth of the season. After back-to-back putouts, Santa Clara looked to be out of trouble but their pitcher would plunk
Tanner Griffith in the backside to bring
Eddie Madrigal to the plate. The whole stadium seemed to know what was gonna happen next as Madrigal crushed the 1-0 pitch over the trees behind the right field wall for his 19th of the season. Just like that, the Gaels were back within three down 10-7 with three innings to play.
7TH INNING
Junior
Elliott Joslin would get a great outfield assist from
Tanner Griffith in center to put up a clean frame in the sixth and then freshman
Sean Cannon would work around a leadoff walk and induce a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning and give the Gaels momentum on their way back to the plate.
The bottom half of the seventh would start with four straight hits including a leadoff double from
Brian Duroff and RBI singles from
Jared Mettam and
Ian Armstrong. Once again, the bottom of the order came through with big time hits as spots six through nine finished the game 11-for-16 with six RBI and four runs scored.
The Gaels were down 10-9 with one out but the hits allowed the lineup to turn over as Madrigal came to the dish with runners on the corners. Madrigal wasted no time, jumping on the first pitch to single through the right side and Mettam from third to tie the game at ten! In the next at-bat,
Cody Kashimoto would lay down a beautiful drag bunt to the right side to score Armstrong from third and give Saint Mary's an 11-10 lead for their first of the game.
Jared Mettam would add to his career day with an RBI single the very next inning to give the Gaels some insurance. He finished with a career high four hits and also added three ribbies and a pair of runs scored. The insurance is always appreciated but senior
Derik Eaquinto would shut the door in the ninth, retiring the Bronco hitters in order including a strikeout to end the game. Eaquinto picked up his fourth save of the season to climb into the top-five in the WCC.
Saint Mary's matched their season high hit toal with eighteen on the afternoon and despite a tough start on the mound, the bullpen allowed just three runs over the final six innings to hold off the Broncos. Madrigal added to his league leading RBI total with four while Mettam and Armstrong each had four hits and combined for three runs scored and six RBI in the bottom of the order. Castellanos also went 3-for-4 from the dish and finished the series with five hits, a solo-home run and a whopping five runs scored including four today.
For the second consecutive season, Saint Mary's finished in third place in the WCC and will enter next week's postseason tournament as one of the hottest teams in the conference, winning five straight and each of their last five conference series.
WCC TOURNAMENT
The Gaels needed a Portland victory to jump to the two-seed but Gonzaga was able to take the rubber match with a 6-4 win. Therefore, Saint Mary's is locked in as the three-seed for this year's WCC Tournament. Pacific needed one win to secure the sixth and final spot in the tournament but fell to San Diego, allowing San Francisco to hang on and qualify for postseason action.
Saint Mary's will get their rematch with the Dons in an elimination game on Wednesday, May 21st. Game time and additional tournament information can be found at wccsports.com.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's finished the regular season with a 31-23 overall record and third place in the conference standings for the second consecutive season at 15-9. They will rest up and head out to Las Vegas for the WCC Tournament starting on Wednesday, May 21st where they will take on bay area rival San Francisco. Additional tournament information, games times, media links and more can be found at wccsports.com.
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