SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Santa Clara University baseball team ran into one of the best pitchers in the West Coast Conference Friday in Portland's Nick Brink, and he proved it with seven strong innings, while the Pilots' bullpen held off a late charge from the Broncos to win both teams' WCC opener, 7-2, at Stephen Schott Stadium.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Brink (4-1), a two-time WCC Pitcher of the Week award winner this season and the defending honoree this week, took care of business on the mound while the Pilots' offense took advantage of the Broncos' early misfortunes. Seven free passes (six walks, one hit-by-pitch) in the first three innings fueled a seven-run outburst that put Portland (11-8, 1-0 WCC) ahead big, and for good.
   
• Brink entered the series leading the WCC and ranking 17th in the nation with 41 strikeouts. He'd strike out seven more on Friday while lowering his season ERA by nearly a run to 3.14. But his performance wasn't without threats from Santa Clara (12-7, 0-1 WCC). The Broncos finally broke through offensively against Brink in his last inning, the seventh, loading the bases and putting the tying run on deck. Two leadoff singles and a walk crowded the base paths, and Coleman Brigman extended his hitting streak to 10 with a two-out RBI single, making it 7-2. Brink's seventh and final strikeout of the day ended the threat, painting the outside corner for a looking K to strand the bases loaded.
   
• The Broncos did the same thing in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases with three free passes (two walks, one hit-by-pitch) to bring the tying run on deck, but a groundout to first base preserved the Pilots' series-opening, five-run victory.
   
• Brink worked his way around baserunners in all but one of his innings. The Broncos had two runners in scoring position with only one out in the third, but a strikeout and a baserunning miscue limited them to scoring one run on an infield error. A leadoff double in the fourth was left stranded, as Brink when on to retire eight in a row and nine of the next 10 he faced.
   
• Evan Scavotto gave the Pilots a 4-0 lead in the second with a three-run homer that barely stayed inside the left field foul pole. An RBI single in the third followed by four walks brought in three more runs, and it was 7-0 after 2 1/2 innings. The Pilots got the leadoff batter on base in each of the first three frames and sent 21 total batters to the plate in those innings.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 4 1/3: Nico Stanley entered the game in relief Friday and immediately calmed things down after the Pilots had scored seven runs, in part with seven free passes. He shut out Portland over a career-long 4 1/3 innings, striking out three and not allowing any free passes. He lowered his season ERA by more than three runs with the outing.
• 10: Brigman's 10-game hitting streak has raised his season batting average by more than 100 points. He was batting .158 on March 2 after going 0 for 5 at Washington, but is now batting .267 with 14 RBIs in his last 10 games.
• 17 2/3: Four Broncos relievers – Sebastian Schreiber, Stanley, Will Pappas and Jack Lazark – combined to throw 6 2/3 of shutout relief Friday. That extended the Santa Clara bullpen's scoreless innings streak to 17 2/3, dating to Sunday's series finale at UNLV.

COMING UP
The WCC-opening series continues at 1 p.m. Saturday. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on SantaClaraBroncos.com.