SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Pitching was the name of the game Tuesday for the Santa Clara University baseball team, as the Broncos shut down visiting San Jose State on the mound while also taking advantage of the Spartans' own pitching miscues to the tune of a 7-1 midweek, non-conference victory at Stephen Schott Stadium.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• A core of Broncos pitchers has risen to grab hold of the midweek duties 4 1/2 weeks into the season. Freshman righty Jace Gillmore made his fourth start in as many midweek games, while Josh Johnson and Victor Martinez closed the door on the Spartans (7-14). Gillmore has posted a 1.93 and 2-0 record in his four midweek starts, Martinez has earned back-to-back saves in the Broncos' last two midweek affairs including Tuesday, and Johnson (1-1) avenged his first loss of the year three weeks ago to the Spartans by earning the victory Tuesday night.
   
• Santa Clara (12-6) took advantage of the Spartans' inability to find the strikezone in the fourth, scoring six runs in the inning – five of them coming from runners who earned a free pass. Four of the Broncos' first five batters drew walks, giving them a 2-1 lead without swinging a bat. Jordan Lewis narrowly missed a grand slam off the top of the left field wall and settled for a two-run single. Coleman Brigman extended his hitting streak to nine games with a one-out RBI single, Michael O'Hara brought in another on a sacrifice fly, and JonJon Berring scampered home on a wild pitch to cap the rally and give the Broncos a 7-1 lead.
   
• Johnson and Martinez took over from there. Johnson had finished the third inning, then after being handed a 7-1 lead, he went on to retire nine of the next 12 batters he faced with three strikeouts. Martinez came in hot in the seventh. He struck out six in a row to begin his outing, all swinging. He'd finish with eight Ks in his three innings of work, earning his second save of the year.
   
• San Jose State got on the board first Tuesday with a long, solo home run from nine-hole hitter Jeriah Lewis. That was the only offense the Spartans would muster, though. They went 1 for 11 (.091) with runners on base and 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 3: Ben Cleary tallied his third consecutive multi-hit game Tuesday night, going 2 for 3 with a double, stolen base and run scored. He also had two hits in each of the Broncos' weekend games at UNLV and now has six multi-hit games this season.
• 12: Santa Clara struck out 12 Spartans in the game, the third time in the last four games its struck out at least 10 batters. The Broncos are 5-2 in games this season they tally at least 10 strikeouts.

NEXT UP
Santa Clara opens West Coast Conference play at home this weekend when it hosts Portland. The series begins at 6 p.m. Friday. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.