SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball pitched its first shutout of the 2016 season just two games into the new campaign. The Broncos blanked No. 24 Notre Dame 2-0 Saturday night at Schott Stadium to even the series with the Fighting Irish.
Steven Wilson (W, 1-0) pitched 6.0+ scoreless innings, allowing six hits and no walks alongside seven strikeouts for the Broncos (1-1). The redshirt junior retired 11 straight batters from the second through the fifth and faced no more than four batters in each of his six complete innings.
"[Steven] had it all working for him tonight — he was spotting up really well," head coach Dan O'Brien said. "What I like is that he acted like a veteran. He was composed with runners in scoring position and working ahead of hitters all night. When he's like that on the mound, he's pretty tough."
The Fighting Irish (1-1) got a leadoff double from Ricky Sanchez in the seventh, and Nick Medeiros came out of the Bronco bullpen to keep Notre Dame off the scoreboard. Sanchez advanced to third on a wild pitch, and was thrown out at home by Santa Clara right fielder Grant Meylan on an attempted tag up after a Lane Richards fly out.
Santa Clara's Max Kuhns (SV, 1) picked up his first career save in a pair of relief innings. The Parker, Colo. native allowed a leadoff single to Jake Johnson in the eighth, and retired six batters in a row to close out the night; he struck out back-to-back hitters for his first two outs.
Stevie Berman and John Cresto singled to set the table for the Broncos in the first inning, and Matt Smithwick walked to load the bases with out. Notre Dame starting pitcher Peter Solomon (L, 0-1) threw a wild pitch that got to the backstop and allowed Cresto to score Santa Clara's first run of the season.
Jake Brodt hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home Cresto in the third for the only RBI of the game. Cresto and Berman tallied two hits apiece, while Smithwick and Meylan each finished the night with a hit and a walk.
"We've got a lot of guys that have been through some great times and some tough times the last three-to-four years, and their maturity is rubbing off on the new guys," O'Brien said. "I think that's why our freshmen are playing with such maturity."
Santa Clara and Notre Dame wrap up opening weekend with an 11 a.m. first pitch Sunday. Bronco left-hander Jason Seever will face Notre Dame left-hander Sean Guenther.
GAME NOTES: First pitch was at 6:05 p.m. … time of the game was 2:33 … attendance was 663.
