Santa Clara, Calif. - Ending their stay in the Bay Area at the Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament, the Pacific baseball team suffered a pair of hard-to-swallow losses, falling 4-1 to Washington before dropping a 9-8 decision to Santa Clara on Saturday, Mar. 8. The losses dropped the Tigers to 8-10 on the year and 1-3 at the tournament.

 

In a game similar to their loss the night prior, the Tigers dropped a 4-1 decision to Washington to open their doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. Pacific had its chances in the contest offensively, but could not come up with the hit when needed to support their freshman pitcher, Will Lydon (0-3).

 

For the Tigers, the only offense of the afternoon came in their very first at bat of the contest when back-to-back singles by sophomores Brett Sullivan and Gio Brusa plated the Tigers' lone run. Brusa delivered his 10th RBI of the season with a single up the middle that scored sophomore J.J. Wagner from second after the second-year third baseman had worked a one-out walk. Pacific had a chance to bust the game open in the inning with the bases loaded and just one out, but a 6-4-3 double play put a screeching halt to the Tigers' rally.

 

The Tigers would put runners on in five of the final six innings of action and a runner in scoring position in both the fourth and fifth innings of play only to come up empty handed against the Huskies' pitching staff. The missed opportunities and lack of run support ultimately came back to hurt Lydon on the mound as the freshman could contain the Washington offense for only so long.

 

Lydon gave up a pair of single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, falling behind to suffer his third tough loss of the season. In the fourth, the Huskies knotted the game up with a leadoff home run by Alex Schmidt. They would turn a leadoff double by Chris Baker in the fifth into the game-winning run. In the eighth, the Huskies struck for a pair of insurance runs against Lydon and the Pacific bullpen, giving Trevor Dunlap enough cushion to secure his fourth save of the season.

 

For the game, Lydon went a career-long 7.1 innings while giving up six hits and four runs, striking out one and walking four. The win went to Henry Baker (1-0) as he threw 1.1 innings while giving up one hit and no runs. Dunlap picked up the save with a one-hit ninth inning of work. He would have to earn the save after a wild pitch on a final strikeout gave Pacific runners at the corners with two outs in the inning and the tying run at the plate.

 

Taking on the host Broncos in an out-of-conference match up, the Tigers suffered a heart breaking loss as Santa Clara scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to send Pacific to defeat. Every time the Tigers thought they had the Broncos down for the count, Santa Clara answered the bell. Each run the Tigers scored, the Broncos came back with one of their own until finally breaking Pacific's back with a pair in the ninth to win the game.

 

As they had done all weekend long, the Tigers jumped on the Broncos in their first trip to the plate, scoring a pair of runs on a pair of hits and a Bronco error. The big hit came from junior Taylor Murphy who ripped a single to right that plated sophomore J.P. Yakel from second after the second-year catcher walked to start the rally. The second run scored on the error as Pacific put their first crooked number on the board on the weekend at Santa Clara.

 

Despite scoring first once again, the Tigers quickly found themselves playing from behind as a series of unfortunate events allowed the Broncos to come back with three in the bottom half of the inning. Squaring up just one ball, the Broncos tallied four hits in the inning to come up with their runs.

 

The scenario would play out for a second time in the fifth when Pacific used two more hits and two more errors to again put a two-spot on the scoreboard and recapture the lead. Again, it was Murphy that delivered the RBI single to score Yakel after Pacific had tied the game on a passed ball. Keeping up with the storyline, Santa Clara tied the game at 4-4 with a single run in the bottom half of the inning after Pacific issued a two-out walk and relinquished a two-out double.

 

An inning later, the two teams traded three run innings to keep the score even at 7-7 with Yakel in the middle of the foray once again. The sophomore came up with a two-out, two-RBI triple to right before coming in to score on an RBI single by Brusa. The Tigers rally was cut short on an injury and an out or Pacific may have scored more in the inning with the hot hitting Murphy awaiting for his chance to do more damage.

 

The shorted out rally immediately proved costly when the Broncos scored three of their own runs against junior reliever Michael Benson (0-2). However, Benson would get out of the inning with the game tied, stranding a pair of runners on base for Santa Clara.

Pacific again struck for a run in the top half of the seventh inning after putting runners at the corners with no outs in the inning. Murphy, who had walked to lead off the inning, scored the go-ahead run for the Tigers on a ground ball double play, but that would be it for Pacific after missing chances to add more in the ninth.

 

The missed opportunities, which were a theme throughout the day, came back in a rough way against the Tigers with the Broncos taking the game in the ninth on three-straight hits including back-to-back doubles. Murphy just missed making a diving catch on the first of the two Bronco doubles as the junior laid out in full extension only to come up empty handed. Murphy had saved a sure extra-base hit just a few pitches prior when he made a tumbling grab in the right-center gap.

 

The loss went to Benson who went 3.1 innings while giving up six hits and five runs in relief of sophomore Jake Jenkins. Jenkins, who did not factor into the decision, last 5.0 innings while giving up six hits and four runs.

 

Reece Karalus (1-1) took the win in relief for the Broncos after pitching 2.0 innings of no-hit baseball while walking one and striking out four. Peter Hendron, Santa Clara's starter, lasted 5.2 innings and gave up eight hits and seven runs with three coming as a result of the four Bronco errors.

 

Pacific is back in action on Tuesday, Mar. 11, when the Tigers travel to Reno, Nev. to take on the Wolf Pack in a single mid-week contest. The game is scheduled for 6:00 pm.