March 18, 2006
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University baseball team ended its four-game losing streak Saturday afternoon as Dustin Realini's third hit of the day brought pinch-runner Juan Parra in with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as the Broncos defeated the Northwestern Wildcats 5-4 at Stephen Schott Stadium.
The victory brings the Broncos back to the .500 mark on the season at 11-11, while the Wildcats drop to 3-9. Jason Matteucci made his return to the lineup after missing 13 games due to illness and showed no signs of rust as he went 2-for-3 and scored a pair of runs.
Daniel DeMarco earned his fourth win of the year in relief, throwing four shutout innings and striking out five Wildcat batters. The two teams will conclude the series tomorrow at Schott Stadium with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. The second game is set to start about 25 minutes after the end of the first contest.
Northwestern took a 3-1 lead in the top of the third after Pat McMahon led the inning off with a home run and a two-out error with runners at second and third gave the Wildcats the lead. The teams each scored a run in the next three half-innings before heading into the game's final third with NU up 4-3.
With one away in the bottom of the seventh and runners at the corners for SCU, Eric Newton drilled a line drive to deep left-center which brought Daniel Nava in to tie the game at four-apiece. After DeMarco set the Wildcats down in order in both the eighth and ninth innings, the Broncos closed things out four batters into their half of the ninth. Singles by Kevin Drever and Matteucci led things off, and with Parra running for Drever, Nava was intentionally walked, leading to Realini's game-winner.