Bronco briefs

BASEBALL

Santa Clara 12, California 7

At home last Wednesday against one of the Pac-10's premier teams, Santa Clara outperformed and outlasted the Golden Bears to hang on for a solid non-conference victory. The Broncos scored twice in the first inning as junior Kevin Drever scored on a groundout and fellow junior Daniel Nava was driven in from second on a Kris Watts double. California found themselves even further behind after Santa Clara's seven-run third inning. The Golden Bears committed five errors, three of which came in the eighth inning, that allowed the Broncos to score two more. Santa Clara had a strong showing from its bullpen. Freshmen Daniel DeMarco and Mark Willinsky did not allow any runs in the eighth or ninth innings as the Broncos held on for the win.

Gonzaga 5, Santa Clara 1

The Broncos dropped the first match of the series in Spokane last Friday to drop to 1-3 in West Coast Conference play. Freshman Sean O'Neill started on the mound for Santa Clara and allowed six hits through seven-plus innings of work before leaving in the eighth. Sophomore reliever Jeff Lombard gave up consecutive RBI singles to the Bulldogs to increase their lead to five going into the final inning. Nava went three for four and accounted for 60 percent of the Broncos' five hits. O'Neill's record fell to 2-4 on the season.

Santa Clara 7, Gonzaga 6

Santa Clara edged the Bulldogs in dramatic fashion on Saturday, scoring five of their seven runs, including the go-ahead run, in the ninth inning. Newton hit two home runs for the Broncos, including one in the first inning to put his team in front. Gonzaga battled back to score a pair in the bottom of the first and then got four more off freshman starter Justin Kuehn in the fourth and sixth innings. Down 6-2 in the top of the ninth, Newton got things started with his ninth home run of the season. Matteucci, Nava and Watts all scored and Drever hit an RBI single to bring junior Carl Bacon in for the winning run. It was the Bulldogs' first conference loss of the year.

Santa Clara 8, Gonzaga 7

Two days after their heroic comeback in the ninth against the Bulldogs, Santa Clara again bested their conference rival by a single run. Gonzaga got on the board first with a run in the bottom of the first on a two-out double. The Broncos, however, had a monster fourth inning in which they scored all eight of their runs and had a total of 12 batters come to the plate. Down 8-2 in the ninth, the Bulldogs scored five runs in a near repeat of the Broncos' comeback win in their last meeting. However, the comeback bid fell short and Lombard finished Gonzaga off for his first save of the year. Santa Clara's overall record stands at 20-14 and the team will play Pepperdine tonight at 7 p.m. at Schott Stadium.

--From staff reports