SANTA CLARA, Calif.- The Portland Pilots had five players with multiple hits and got a solid start from senior right-hander Kyle Corra as they beat Santa Clara 5-4 in a West Coast Conference game at Buck Shaw Stadium. The Pilots (4-24, 1-8 WCC) earned their first conference victory of the year and snapped a 13-game losing streak with the win.

Portland scored a run in five different innings, with the most important coming in the top of the ninth with the game tied at 4-4. Travis Vetters singled with one out, and Jeffrey Crinklaw advanced Vetters to third with line drive up the middle. Joe Watson brought home the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly to center field. Portland left-handed reliever Jared Adams got out of a ninth inning jam by recording three straight flyouts from the 2-3-4 hitters in the Bronco lineup to earn the win.

Crinklaw began the Pilot scoring with a sacrifice fly of his own in the first, scoring Mike McRae, who made the start at second base and scored two runs. Santa Clara evened the score on David Hoffmire’s run-scoring single in the second.

Portland then scored a run in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings with Jesse Rodgers, Crinklaw and Nik Kosach each recording RBI singles. Eric Newton hit a solo homer for SCU in the fifth and Robert Perry did the same in the seventh, narrowing the Pilot lead to 4-3. Nic Crosta’s sacrifice fly, also in the seventh, evened the score at 4-4 but the Pilots would not let the game slip away.

Portland scored five runs on 14 hits, all singles, and left 10 runners on base. Santa Clara tallied four runs on 13 hits and stranded nine runners. Both teams committed one error, the Bronco’s proving more costly as Rhett Parker reached on an error in the fourth and would eventually score on Rodgers’ single.

Adams (1-4) was the winning pitcher, allowing just two hits and no runs in 2.2 innings of relief. Corra spread out 11 hits and four runs in 6.1 innings of work, with no walks and a strikeout. Crinklaw was 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBI and finished the three-game series 6-for-13 for the Pilots. Vetters had a pair of singles and two runs scored, raising his batting average to a team-best .330. Kosach, Parker and Rodgers also had two hits each on the afternoon.

Santa Clara starter Scott Lonergan tossed 3.2 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits. Reliever Andrew Slorp (0-3) took the loss despite striking out four Pilots in 2.2 innings. Hoffmire led the Broncos, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Perry had two hits, while Ryan Chiarelli hit his first double of the season and scored a run.

The Pilots will be back at Pilot Stadium for the next five games, beginning with a nonconference match-up against the Washington Huskies on Tues., April 6 at 3:00 p.m. Portland returns to league play with a three-game series versus Loyola Marymount starting on Thurs., Apr. 8 at 3:00 p.m.