Feb. 4, 2007
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Another strong effort from the Santa Clara pitching staff on Sunday afternoon propelled the Broncos to a weekend sweep of the Utah Utes with a 3-2 victory at Stephen Schott Stadium. Justin Kuehn picked up his first victory of the 2007 season after his second strong start, and Jeff Lombard finished things off with his second save in as many days.
The Broncos (4-2) will look to keep their four-game winning streak going Tuesday night as they host the UC Davis Aggies in a 6 p.m. contest at Stephen Schott Stadium.
Kuehn allowed only four hits and a run in five and two-thirds innings of work Sunday, picking up the win. Relievers Sean O'Neill, Daniel DeMarco, and Alex Rivers held down the fort over the next two-plus innings before Lombard came on in the ninth and, despite yielding a leadoff double, made quick work of the next three Utah batters to nail down the save.
Tommy Medica, David Hoffmire, and Jon Karcich each had two hits for the Broncos, while catcher Carl Bacon drove in a pair of runs with a bases-loaded single in the first.
Utah's Nate Burnham scored in the third after singling and stealing second, then being driven in by Nick Lowery's single. SCU though, got the eventual game-winner across in the fourth as Hoffmire singled with one out, then advanced to third via a stolen base, then a wild pitch. Karcich then drove him in with a double to left.
The Utes closed to within one run after a Jesse Shriner double knocked in Brett Baldwin in the seventh, but from there, Rivers took the hill and struck out Corey Shimada to end the threat. Rivers also worked a scoreless eighth before handing things over to Lombard, who, after Fred Ferguson's double to start the ninth, retired the next three batters in order to preserve the sweep.
