PORTLAND, Ore. --- Portland senior Cody Lenahan hit two home runs, senior teammate Turner Gill claimed another and the Pilots led for most of the game, but the Santa Clara Broncos used a five-run ninth inning to rally for an 8-6 win on Sunday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field. Both Lenahan and Gill's homers came on senior day as the Pilots played their final home game of 2015.
 
Lenahan's first home run was in the bottom of the first inning after the Broncos had scored in the top half of the frame. With a run already in and a runner on first base, Lenahan drove a pitch high over the right-field wall to give the Pilots a 3-1 lead. Lenahan extended the lead to 4-1 when he led off the bottom of the third inning by drilling a ball into the trees beyond the center field wall.
 
Santa Clara got a run back in the fourth inning, but the Pilots scored another in the bottom of the seventh to push the lead back to three runs. This time Gill drove in a run with a single to left.
 
The Broncos' comeback bid began in the top of the eighth inning when they loaded the bases with nobody out. But that's when Portland turned to its bullpen, and Billy Sahlinger came through by getting Jake Brodt to ground into a clutch double play. A run did score on the play, but Sahlinger ended the inning by inducing a ground-out by T.C. Florentine.
 
The Pilots weren't as fortunate the next inning when the Broncos scored five runs on four hits. First Grant Meylan pulled Santa Clara within one with an RBI double, which was followed by Jose Viscaino, Jr., tying the game with a run-scoring single. Stevie Berman then gave the Broncos the lead with a single to center field before Brodt added some insurance with a two-run single.
 
Now trailing 8-5, Gill tried to spark a Portland rally with a lead-off solo home run to begin the bottom of the ninth. A few batters later, Lenahan nearly homered for a third time when he sent a shot to the gap in left-center field. But he'd end up with a one-out double when the ball missed leaving the yard by about two feet.
 
Dan Whittaker followed Lenahan's double with a walk, and Brady Kerr loaded the bases when he was hit by a pitch, brining pinch hitter Cooper Hummel to the plate with the potential tying run on second and the possible winning run on first. But the game would end when the Broncos turned a huge 6-4-3 double play.
 
Portland (10-39, 5-19 WCC) reliever Carl Snaring (1-2), who was one of seven pitchers used by the Pilots, is saddled with the loss after getting charged with three of Santa Clara's (24-26, 11-13 WCC) five runs in the eighth. Starter Davis Tominaga was effective during 6.0 innings, limiting the Broncos to just two runs on four hits.
 
White (3-2), who notched save during each of the first two games of the three-game set, gets the win. He was preceded on the mound by Evan Brisentine and starter Steven Wilson, who allowed four runs on seven hits in 6.0 innings.
 
Lenahan joins a lengthy list of Pilots who have hit two home runs in the same game, and he's the first since teammate Caleb Whalen accomplished the feat against Kansas State on Feb. 20, 2014. It's believed that no UP baseball player has ever hit three homers in the same game.
 
Gill's blast gives him nine on the year and it helped the Pilots claim an 11-9 edge in hits. Travis Pederson, also a senior, had a pair of hits on the day.
 
The Pilots next finish the season with five straight games outside of the Rose City, beginning with a tilt against the Washington State Cougars in Pasco, Wash., on Tuesday. First pitch at Gesa Stadium is set for 6:30 p.m.