SANTA CLARA (Interstat) — Jace Gillmore pitched seven solid innings and Ben Cleary drove in three runs as Santa Clara defeated Pepperdine 9-2 on Friday night at Stephen Schott Stadium.

Pepperdine struck first in the top of the first inning when Dillon Patterson doubled to right center, scoring two runs. But the lead was short-lived. Santa Clara answered in the bottom half with a run on a single by Coleman Devine that scored Max Ferroggiaro, who had doubled.

The game turned in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Payton Lambert reached on a fielding error by Pepperdine third baseman. After a fly out, Camden Sos doubled to right center, scoring Lambert for an unearned run that tied the game at 2. A walk to Ferroggiaro followed, then Cleary doubled down the left-field line, driving in two more unearned runs to give Santa Clara a 4-2 lead. Cleary was caught stealing third to end the inning.

Pepperdine briefly cut the deficit in the top of the third when J. Nunez doubled and scored on a single by J. Woodworth, making it 4-3. But Santa Clara erupted for four runs in the bottom half. Johnny Luetzow led off with a solo home run to left field. After a single by Devine and a groundout, Lambert doubled to left field to score Devine, extending the lead to 6-2. Austin Plisinski relieved Pepperdine starter Fowler, but Sos greeted him with a double down the left-field line that scored Lambert, pushing the lead to 7-2. A walk to Rayment followed, but Ferroggiaro lined out to end the inning.

Cleary struck again in the fourth inning, leading off with a solo home run to left center, making it 8-2. Lambert collected his second RBI of the night in the sixth inning, doubling to left center to score Devine, who had singled and advanced on a hit batter, giving Santa Clara a 9-2 lead.

Pepperdine’s only other run came in the sixth inning when Finley Buckner homered to left center, cutting the deficit to 9-3, but the Waves could mount no further threat.

Gillmore earned the win, allowing seven hits and two earned runs over seven innings with two strikeouts. He improved to 4-5 on the season. In his previous start May 9 at Seattle, Gillmore tossed six shutout innings, allowing no hits and three earned runs with eight strikeouts in an 11-4 win. Jack Lazark pitched two scoreless innings of relief, allowing one hit and striking out one.

For Pepperdine, Plisinski threw three hitless innings, allowing two earned runs with three strikeouts. Gabe Maya and Pierson Howe each contributed scoreless innings. Finley Buckner went 1 for 4 with the solo home run and an RBI. Dillon Patterson had a double and two runs batted in for the Waves.

Santa Clara outhit Pepperdine 13-8. The Broncos improved to 24-28 overall, while Pepperdine dropped to 21-31. The victory was Santa Clara’s second straight over Pepperdine, following a 10-0 shutout Thursday night. The two teams meet again Saturday in the series finale.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Pepperdine 7, Santa Clara 6. Interstat’s ELO system gave Santa Clara a 66.20 percent probability to win.