Apr 13-In a busy day of WCC baseball, all eight league teams took the field, wrapping up a big weekend of conference action. Santa Clara swept San Diego, taking two games on Sunday, 6-0 and 2-1. Saint Mary’s and Portland also played a double header on Sunday with the Gaels taking the opener 5-3, while the two teams tied 9-9 in the nightcap. In other WCC action, Pepperdine and USF put the finishing touches on three-game sweeps of LMU and Gonzaga respectively. The Waves downed the Lions 5-4 in 10 innings, while the Dons defeated the Bulldogs 8-3.

Saint Mary’s 5, Portland 3 – Game 1
Portland 9, Saint Mary’s 9 – Game 2
On Sunday, April 13, the Saint Mary’s baseball team walked away with a win and a tie in a double-header against the Portland Pilots on Louis Guisto Field. The Gaels won 5-3 in the first game and the second game ended in a 9-9 tie after 11 innings of play. The Gaels move to 15-19-1/6-8-1 WCC on the season, while Portland is now 8-26-1/4-10-1 WCC.

Gaels’ starting pitcher Kevin Trochez improved to 1-3 on the season with a complete-game performance. Losing pitcher for the Pilots went to Jared Adams, who falls to 1-2 on the year.

Saint Mary’s was led by Sam Battle, who finished 2-for-3 in the game with two doubles, two RBIs and a run scored and Mike Sansoe, whoe went 3-for-3 with two stolen bases and a run scored. Tyler Perkins and Brock Griffin each had two hits for the Pilots, and Kory Casto added three more RBIs and his team leading tenth double of the season.

In game two of the day, the Gaels took a 4-1 lead in the second inning with four runs. The Pilots would respond, tying the score in the top of the third inning with three runs, all unearned. Portland took the lead in the fifth inning after Trevor Hahn led off with a triple and was later scored on a sacrifice play by Gus Little.

After eight innings of play the Pilots led 7-5. The Pilots scored two insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning to take a 9-5 lead. The Gaels rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning, scoring four runs. Sansoe led off the inning with a triple and was later scored on a PU error. Later with the bases loaded Bryan Byrne, collected two RBI with a single to center field. Eli Champion would then score the game-tying run on a Nick Conte single to left field.

After playing two more innings of scoreless action the game ended as a tie and will be completed if necessary at the conclusion of the season.

Santa Clara 6, San Diego 0 – Game 1
Santa Clara 2, San Diego 1 – Game 2
The Santa Clara University baseball team picked up two big West Coast Conference wins Sunday afternoon as they swept a doubleheader from the University of San Diego by scores of 6-0 and 2-1. The wins move the Broncos' record to 18-21 overall and 10-5 in league action while the Toreros' record falls to 19-23 overall and 9-9 in WCC play.

Santa Clara picked up the win in game one behind a complete game shutout from Joe Diefenderfer who allowed only five hits while walking two and striking out seven. The win moves his season record to 6-3 overall while his conference record improves to 3-0. It was the second complete-game shutout of the season for Diefenderfer who has led the team to a 4-0 WCC record in his four conference starts.

Scott Dierks and Jim Wallace each picked up two hits in game one with Dierks scoring twice and Wallace knocking in two. Michael Thompson and Jack Headley each had a hit and an RBI in the game.

Game two was a nail biter from the beginning as both starters, Kellan McConnell for Santa Clara and Justin Blaine for San Diego, looked very dominant in their time on the mound. McConnell threw four full innings in which he allowed only two hits before leaving the game to start the fifth after he reached his pitch count maximum. He gave way to John Redmond who threw 3 2/3 innings, allowing only one unearned run and five hits to move his season record to 4-3 on the year. Anthony Rea picked up his first save of the season after recording the final four outs to secure the one run win.

Blaine allowed only one run on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts in five full innings of work. Brian Jones allowed one run on one hit in two innings before Tony Perez recorded three outs in the eighth to keep USD within striking distance.

Pepperdine 5, LMU 4
Freshman David Uribes singled up the middle with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning to score pinch-runner Damian Gomez with the winning run and help Pepperdine complete a three-game sweep of Loyola Marymount with a 5-4 victory over the Lions Sunday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium. Pepperdine improved to a season-high seven games over .500 with 22-15 overall record and 12-3 in WCC play. Loyola Marymount lost for the fourth straight time and fell to 21-16 on the season and 8-7 in conference action.

After Loyola Marymount rallied for a run in the ninth inning off Waves’ reliever Kea Kometani to tie the score, freshman designated hitter Michael Beattie started Pepperdine's winning rally with a lead-off walk against Lions’ reliever Stephen Kahn. Gomez, who pinch ran for Beattie, was sacrificed to second by sophomore Patrick Rooney, and would eventually score from second on Uribes' single up the middle.

USF 8, Gonzaga 3
In the final baseball game ever to be played at Gonzaga University's August/A.R.T. Stadium, the host Bulldogs (15-19-1, 4-11 WCC) could not make a 1-0 early lead stand up as they fell 8-3 to the University of San Francisco (16-23, 9-9 WCC). The Bulldogs will play the remainder of their home 2003 schedule at a site to be determined later this week after the Gonzaga University Board of Trustees voted on Friday to start construction on a new basketball arena and baseball complex.

San Francisco finally broke through against Bulldogs starter Eric Dworkis (4-4) in the top of the fifth inning after Dworkis had cruised through the opening four frames. The Dons took advantage of two fielding errors in the inning as they scored five runs, two of them unearned.

San Francisco had two hits each from Gaerlan, Royce Fukuroku and Hanson. Kevin Rose (3-5) pitched eight innings to collect the win. Gonzaga was led by Welker and Evans each with three hits while Hess finished with two.