Box Score

PORTLAND, Ore. --- Portland’s Ben Grubb knocked in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning and reliever Jeremy Burright struck out the only two batters he faced in the top of the ninth as the Pilots completed a three-game sweep of Santa Clara with a 7-6 win over the Broncos on a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field. Burright’s two K’s came with the potential game-tying run on second base.
 
The series sweep is the first of the season for the Pilots, who improve to 11-16 overall and to 4-2 in the West Coast Conference. Santa Clara drops to 8-18 and to 0-6 in the league.
 
There was plenty of offense on the warm Saturday afternoon as the Broncos seemingly had an answer every time the Pilots took the lead. Portland’s first lead came in the bottom of the second inning when a run-scoring double by Michael Lucarelli made a 2-1 game.
 
The Pilots weren’t finished as Ryan Barr registered an RBI with a sacrifice fly to right field and Cody Lenahan drove in two more with a double down the right field line to hand Portland a comfortable 4-1 lead.
 
But Santa Clara was able to get to UP starter Kurt Yinger, who had a stretch of 27.0 scoreless innings earlier this month. The Broncos made it a one-run game with two in the fourth and tied the game with another run an inning later.
 
The Pilots were unfazed and answered with an RBI triple by Kramer Scott, which scored Beau Fraser all the way from first base in the bottom of the fifth inning. An inning later Barr picked up his second RBI of the day to give the Pilots a 6-4 lead.
 
Again the Broncos tied it with two, two-out runs in the top of the seventh inning to finally chase Yinger.
 
Portland reliever Colin Feldtman took over on the mound and worked a scoreless inning and two-thirds.
 
With the score still tied 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth, Brian Frattali led off with a double driven deep into the gap in left-center field. Grubb then followed with a base hit up the middle to score pinch runner Zack McCoy with the tie-breaking run.

In the ninth, Feldtman retired the lead-off hitter with a fly out before issuing a walk to Justin Viele. That’s when Burright entered the game, and after Viele stole second the senior right-hander calmly fanned Santa Clara’s No. 2 and 3 hitters to notch his second save of the year.
 
Feldtman (2-0) picks up his second win of the series, and Yinger struck out six in 6.2 innings.
 
Bronco reliever Max Deering (1-2) is shouldered with the loss after allowing just one run on four hits and a walk during 3.0 innings. SCU starter Reece Karalus surrendered six runs total on nine hits.
 
The Pilots held a slim 13-12 advantage in hits and each team committed one error. Grubb finished with three hits while Barr and Lenahan each had a pair of RBI’s.
 
The Pilots next play a pair of non-conference road games beginning with a tilt against Oregon State on Tuesday in Corvallis, Ore. First pitch is set for 5:35.
 
Portland follows its trip to Corvallis with a trek north to Seattle, Wash., to face Seattle U at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.