March 14, 2006
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University baseball team returns to Stephen Schott Stadium this week for a four-game homestand as they welcome the UC Davis Aggies and the Northwestern Wildcats to the South Bay. Wednesday's game against the Aggies will begin at 6 p.m. while the Broncos and Wildcats will face off in a 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon contest and finish up with a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m.
Tickets for each of the weekend's contests are available by calling (408) 554-4660 or by visiting the Leavey Center ticket office.
Santa Clara (10-10) is looking to get back to its winning ways after suffering a three-game sweep in Seattle over the weekend at the hands of the Washington Huskies. Outside of a 9-0 loss in Sunday's finale, Santa Clara's offense had a huge weekend, scoring 29 runs and pounding out 36 hits the rest of last week.
Eric Newton paced the big offensive week as he batted .429 in going 6-for-14 with a pair of homers, a double, six RBIs and five runs scored. Matt Long also had a fine weekend, highlighted by a 4-for-4 performance on Saturday against Washington where he reached base safely in all six of his plate appearances, collecting four singles and drawing a pair of walks.
Sophomore southpaw Donald Brandt also made his return to the mound in last Wednesday's 6-1 win over Sacramento State. After being off the hill for about a year following an elbow injury and subsequent Tommy John surgery, Brandt tossed four shutout innings and struck out a pair while allowing only two hits to earn his first win of 2006.
UC Davis (9-9) comes into the South Bay this week having dropped four of its last five contests. The Aggies suffered a three-game sweep at the hands of Oral Roberts two weekends ago and this past weekend split a two-game set with Utah Valley State. UC Davis is led offensively by Tyler LaTorre (.439, four 2Bs, HR, 11 RBIs) and Lukas Kirby (.308, four 2Bs, HR, 12 RBIs) while Jeremy McChesney (3-0, 2.70) paces the Aggie pitching staff. In the last meeting between the Broncos and Aggies, the Aggies prevailed 11-6 on Feb. 7 in Davis.
Northwestern (3-8) heads into this weekend's series on a four-game slide having also lost five of their last six ballgames. The Wildcats dropped two of three to Louisville two weekends ago and were swept on the road this past weekend by another squad of Wildcats, these ones from the University of Kentucky. This weekend's series with the Broncos will be the first three games of a seven-game WCC swing for Northwestern as they will also play a single game at Loyola Marymount before a weekend series next week at Pepperdine. The Wildcats are led offensively by the bats of Antonio Mule (.455, two HRs, eight RBIs) and Jake Owens (.408, two doubles, a triple, HR, and three RBIs).
Following this home-stand, the Broncos will travel to the big island of Hawaii for a four-game set against Hawaii-Hilo from March 25-27.