March 15, 2008
Box Score
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Jake Jefferies, Scott Heylman and Kevin James each drove in three runs, and UC Davis scored a combined 19 runs in a doubleheader sweep over Santa Clara Saturday at Schott Stadium. The Aggies won the first game, 12-5, and the second, 7-3.
The Aggies have now swept two straight doubleheaders and have won a season-best five straight games to improve to 11-7. Santa Clara drops to 10-6 after losing the first three games of the four-game series against UC Davis.
The opening victory gave UC Davis head coach Rex Peters No. 400 for his collegiate coaching career. He won No. 150 as a UC Davis head coach at Nevada on Wednesday and now owns the second-most wins in Aggie history.
Jefferies, Heylman and James each drove in three runs over the two games to lead UC Davis. Jefferies and James each had two RBIs in the second game and another in the first. Heylman drove in a game-high three RBIs in the first game.
UC Davis had similar pitching efforts in both wins as well. Starters Brad McAtee and Trevor Fox each pitched over six innings to earn the victories. Relievers Andy Suiter and Justin Fitzgerald were credited with saves. It was the first collegiate save for Suiter while Fitzgerald struck out five batters to earn his team-leading third save of the year.
The Aggies trailed 2-0 heading into the eighth inning of the second game, but put up five runs in the eighth to jump ahead. Hirneise highlighted the big inning with a two-run single down the left field line. The Broncos committed two errors in the inning, one of which scored Ryan Royster from third base. Two more runs in the ninth off a two-run double from Dempsey sealed the sweep.
UC Davis put up double digit runs in the first game to mark the eighth time this season that they have scored at least 10 runs in a game. James had the hot bat for the Aggies as he finished with a home run, a double and two RBIs. Royster and Evan Hudson also homered in the game. Royster now leads the team with four home runs on the season. Heylman had a team-high three RBIs in the contest while Matt Dempsey and Ryan Scoma each drove in two runs apiece.
The Aggies scored two runs in the first inning and added two in the fourth and another in the fifth to jump ahead 5-0. Santa Clara cut the lead to 5-3 after the seventh inning, but UC Davis responded with three runs in the eighth and a game-high four in the ninth to put the game out of reach.
Ty Kelly totaled a team-best five hits in the two games while Jefferies had hits in both games to run his team-best hitting streak to 13 straight.
The final game of the series returns to Dobbins Stadium tomorrow at 1 p.m.
