Bronco Victory on Senior Night

Back-and-forth contest results in close win

John Brussa
Sports Editor
February 28, 2019

On Saturday night, five seniors were celebrated before Men’s Basketball took the court for their final home game of the season against San Francisco. In a game that saw 13 lead changes and 10 ties, the Broncos managed to conclude Senior Night on a positive note, winning 68-65 over the Dons.

Sophomore forward Josip Vrankic, who has played a crucial role for the Broncos’ offense this season, scored a game-high 20 points—including 13 in the first half—and pulled down nine rebounds.

The largest lead held by either team came with 4:30 left in the first period when Santa Clara pulled ahead 29-23. A majority of the second half, however, both teams were within three points of one another.

San Francisco took a 65- 63 lead over Santa Clara after knocking down a three-pointer with 3:23 left to play. Then, senior forward Henrik Jadersten, playing his final game at Leavey Center, drew the teams even when he scored a layup moments later for the Broncos.

First-year guard Trey Wertz followed up with a layup of his own shortly after, putting the Broncos ahead once again. A free throw from sophomore guard Tahj Eaddy, who had 16 points on the night, would give Santa Clara a 68-65 lead.

With seven seconds remaining, the Dons managed to drive down the court but failed to get a shot off. Two timeouts later and 0.8 seconds left on the clock, San Francisco took its final shot and missed, cementing Santa Clara’s win.

Men’s Basketball will travel to LMU today to take on the Lions at 8 p.m. Santa Clara’s final game of the regular season will take place Saturday at 7 p.m. against Portland.

Baseball

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Taking on the Pac-12’s Washington State in a four-game home series this weekend, the Broncos saw improvement after being swept by San Jose State to open the season.

During the first game of the series last Thursday night, the Cougars’ pitching stole the show, allowing Santa Clara just one hit—which came from first-year outfielder Cam Allie in the bottom of the ninth. Two Washington State pitchers combined to shut out Santa Clara while the Cougs’ offense came alive to trample the Broncos 10-0.

Friday night, however, was a different story. Junior Brendan Ecklebarger delivered a strong five-inning performance for the Broncos, giving up just two runs. The next three Bronco pitchers combined to shut out the Cougs and RBI singles from junior Jason Dicochea and firstyear Matt Jew put Santa Clara ahead 4-2 in the third inning. Neither team would score again and the Broncos took game two.

Saturday was a similar story. Starter Keegan McCarville (junior) led the way for the Broncos defense, allowing no runs in five innings before junior relievers Locke Bernhardt and Ethan Heinrich took over and gave up just one unearned run. Santa Clara tallied three one-run innings—including a solo homerun from junior catcher Jake MacNichols in the fourth—to defeat WSU 3-1 and give the Broncos a 2-1 advantage in the series.

In the final game of the series on Sunday, the Cougars’ offense returned with a vengeance to collect 16 hits and score 10 runs. The Broncos, who gained a 5-4 lead following a home-run from first-year Blake Faddoul in the seventh, could not come back after the Cougs followed up with six runs in the eighth inning to split the series 2-2.

Broncos baseball will play its first road games of the season against CSU Bakersfield in a four-game series beginning Friday at 6 p.m.

Women’s Tennis

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Women’s Tennis, who cruised by Southeastern Louisiana, 4-0, on Thursday, maintained their dominance against UC Davis on Sunday by serving the Aggies a 7-0 defeat.

The Broncos left no room for doubt in doubles play when junior Maddie Pothoff and sophomore Elvena Gevargiz paired up to defeat UC Davis’ No.1 duo, 6-0. Sophomore Nadine Del Carmen and first-year Jamie Schroer secured Santa Clara’s doubles point after winning on court three.

In singles play, Pothoff and Gevargiz both earned victories in their respective matches. Schroer, Del Carmen and junior Caitlyn Frankel all won in straight sets over their opponents to keep the Broncos’ sweep in tact.

Sunday’s contest had originally been scheduled for Feb. 3, but was rescheduled due to inclement weather.

Women’s Tennis will travel north to open conference play against Portland on Friday at 10 a.m. before continuing their road trip to Gonzaga on Sunday at the same time.

Contact John Brussa at jbrussa@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.