SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Anthony Donatella pitched eight-plus innings of scoreless relief and Stephen Dubb and Jeff Houghtby each had three hits and two RBIs to pace the offense for San Diego, which overcame an early deficit to claim a 14-6 series-opening win over Santa Clara baseball on Friday.
The Toreros (27-19, 11-11 West Coast Conference) scored three in the fourth, keyed by RBI hits from Houghtby and Dubb, and added two more in the fifth to erase a 6-4 Bronco lead.
While San Diego scored in four of the final six innings, Donatella (3-1) scattered six hits in his 8 1/3 innings to keep the Santa Clara (10-33, 3-16) offense in check. The southpaw, pitching to a righty-centric lineup, struck out seven and walked only two.
San Diego, which had dropped five of its previous six, pounded out 15 hits and took advantage of four Bronco errors in the first of three games at Stephen Schott Stadium.
Shane McGuire and Paul Kunst also drove in two runs apiece for the Toreros who added four more insurance runs in the ninth.
Tony Boetto had three of the 12 hits for Santa Clara, which used four pitchers.
Locke Bernhardt (2-4), who relieved starter Russell Grant II in the fourth inning, suffered the loss. Bernhardt surrendered four runs, though only one was earned, in his 1 2/3 innings.
The teams combined for 10 runs in the opening inning.
After the Toreros scored four, highlighted by three straight run-scoring singles from Kunst, Dubb and Chris McCready, the Broncos answered with six in the bottom half of the frame knocking out San Diego starter Grady Miler.
Ryan McCarthy had a two-run double and following RBI singles from Boetto and Connor Henriques, Matt Jew accounted for the go-ahead runs on his bloop single to center field. Boetto came around to score and Henriques crossed the plate when the base bit was mishandled by Kunst.
Miller yielded six runs on six hits in his 2/3 of an inning on the mound.
NEXT UP
The Broncos and Toreros continue their three-game series on Saturday. First pitch is at 1 p.m.
