Santa Clara University Baseball Shuts out WCC-Leading Gonzaga 6-0 in Series Finale

Jason Seever has a 1.29 ERA in 14 innings over his last two starts.

SPOKANE, Wash. — Santa Clara baseball scored four runs in the first three innings Sunday afternoon at Washington Trust Field, and Jason Seever struck out a career-high nine batters in a 6-0 shutout win over Gonzaga. Seever also matched his collegiate best mark with 7.0 innings pitched as the Broncos defeated the West Coast Conference-leading Bulldogs.

The Broncos (17-20, 5-10 WCC) are 5-1 in their last six Sunday games since March 27.

Seever (W, 5-1) earned the victory in his second straight outing and has allowed only two earned runs
in his last 14.0 innings as a starter. He held the Bulldogs (24-13, 12-6) to 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and issued two inning-ending double plays.

"Seever once again stepped up and gave us a quality start today," head coach Dan O'Brien said. "I'm happy for him that he finally got the support he deserves from the position players. They owe a lot to our pitching staff and I hope they get that."

Ryan Budnick drove a 2-2 pitch from Gonzaga starter Gage Burland (L, 0-1) over the left field wall to put Santa Clara in front 1-0 in the second. Each of the first three scoring plays in the series was a home run and Budnick's was his first of the season. Burland allowed four runs (two earned) in 3.0 innings of his third start in 2016.

Max Kuhns took over in the eighth and struck out two batters in 2.0 scoreless innings to finish off the afternoon. He also pitched effectively with runners on as Gonzaga had two men on the basepaths in each inning and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position against the Santa Clara closer.

Santa Clara loaded the bases with no outs in the third, and plated three runs between an error, a passed ball and an RBI sacrifice fly from Tyler Meditz. After three scoreless innings, Braden Frankfort led off the seventh with a double and scored on a wild pitch by Gonzaga's Hunter Wells to put the Broncos ahead 5-0.

In the ninth, Austin Fisher singled to left and Gonzaga's Sam Brown bobbled the ball for an error, allowing Jake Brodt to Santa Clara's sixth run of the afternoon. The Broncos outhit the Bulldogs for the second straight game — Gonzaga was outhit only eight times in 34 contests entering the weekend.

The Broncos played error-free baseball for the second time in as many games. They turned three double plays in each of the last two games in Spokane.

"For the first time all year we played a complete, well-rounded ballgame," O'Brien said. "But for that to happen in late April says a lot. At some point, your players need to realize that winning is about wanting to win, and it's hard to win consistently when you have guys who really don't value winning as much as they do personal gain."

Budnick led all batters with two hits and Fisher went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Tyler Frost topped Gonzaga with two hits.

Santa Clara returns to Schott Stadium for a four-game homestand, beginning with Stanford Tuesday at 6 p.m. followed by a weekend matchup with Loyola Marymount.

GAME NOTES: First pitch was at 12:03 p.m. … time of the game was 2:44 … attendance was 938.

Recap, photo courtesy of Santa Clara University