March 29, 2006
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Just about everything went right for the Santa Clara University baseball team Wednesday night as they defeated the Cal State Monterey Bay Otters 15-2 in their final tune-up before beginning West Coast Conference play Friday night.
The Broncos will now take a 16-11 record into conference play this weekend as they host the San Francisco Dons in a three-game series. Friday's first game is set for a 7 p.m. start while first pitch for Saturday and Sunday's contests will be at 1 p.m. Tickets are available by calling (408) 554-4660 or by visiting the Leavey Center ticket office. Cal State Monterey Bay falls to 9-22 with the loss.
Kris Watts and Brady Fuerst each led the Bronco hit parade Wednesday night with five RBIs each. Watts got SCU on the board in style, crushing a grand slam to right-center to put the Broncos ahead to stay. Eric Newton smacked his team-leading sixth homer of the year, Daniel Nava went 2-for-2 on the night and redshirt freshman Kevin Davey singled in his first collegiate at-bat as Santa Clara coasted to the victory.
Six runs in the first inning gave the Broncos a sizable advantage right out of the gate, and they dashed any hopes of an Otter comeback by scoring three more in the second highlighted by Ryan Conan's two-out, two-run single. Two innings later, Fuerst drove in a trio with a single to right as all runners were moving on the 3-2 two-out pitch.
Matt Wickswat earned his fifth win of the season and lowered his ERA to 2.79 as he struck out a pair in two-plus shutout innings. Including Wickswat, seven Bronco hurlers combined to fan 10 Otter batters in the contest.
The game's scoring was capped in the bottom of the fifth with Newton's two-run bomb to left.