April 3, 2006
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - It has been announced late this morning that weather permitting, the Santa Clara University baseball team will host the California Golden Bears in a 6 p.m. Wednesday evening contest at Stephen Schott Stadium. Tomorrow's game will mark the fifth and final part of the current homestand before the Broncos travel to Gonzaga this weekend to continue WCC play.
Tickets for Wednesday's game are available by calling (408) 554-4660 or by visiting the Leavey Center ticket office.
Santa Clara (17-13, 1-2 WCC) will look to finish off this stand with a winning mark, as they have split the first four games. After a 15-2 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay on Wednesday, the Broncos dropped two of three in their first series of WCC play against the San Francisco Dons.
Eric Newton continued his torrid play last week, batting .429 (6-for-14) last week with two homers, three RBIs and his second three-hit game of the season Sunday. Matt Wickswat and Justin Kuehn each turned in solid outings, with Wickswat earning his fifth win of the season Wednesday and tossing eight shutout innings over his two starts. The redshirt freshman from Bellevue, Wash. also struck out a career-best eight batters Sunday against USF. Kuehn allowed only one earned run and struck out four in six and two-thirds innings of work in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader.
Cal (16-12, 4-2 Pac-10) comes to the South Bay following a pair of series wins to begin their Pac-10 season. Two weeks ago the Golden Bears took two of three from the Washington Huskies in Berkeley and just took two more at home against the Arizona Wildcats this past weekend. The Bears are led offensively by Allan Craig, who is hitting .393 on the season with 10 doubles, five homers and 15 RBIs. Chris Errecart (.275, six homers, 16 RBIs) and Brennan Boesch (.266, seven homers, 20 RBIs) also add some pop to the Bear lineup. On the hill, ace Brandon Morrow boasts a perfect 6-0 mark with a 1.74 ERA.
Tuesday's contest will be the first meeting between the two schools since the 2003 season, when Cal defeated Santa Clara 7-5 at Buck Shaw Stadium on Feb. 25 and then came out on top once again on April 22, 11-6 in Berkeley.