The Santa Clara Bruins will challenge the Saratoga Falcons at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Santa Clara is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last 13 games.
Santa Clara is returning to their home field after beating Fremont on theirs, despite the fact Fremont has dominated at home this season. The Bruins came out on top against the Firebirds by a score of 5-1 on Tuesday. The game was the first time the Bruins have beaten the Firebirds on their field since April 30, 2019.
Andrew Traffas
| 05/06/25 @ Fremont | 1 |
| 04/30/25 @ Harbor | 1 |
| 04/29/25 @ Monta Vista | 1 |
The team relied heavily on Andrew Traffas, who went 2-for-4 with one home run and one stolen base. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaxton Chao, who went 2-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.
Fremont hit Saratoga with a four-run fourth inning on Thursday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Falcons fell just short of the Firebirds by a score of 5-3. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest loss the Falcons have suffered since April 1st.
Aiden Chen was huge no matter where he played even without the win. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out six batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. Chen was also big at the plate, going a perfect 4-for-4 with one run and one RBI.
Chen wasn't the only one making solid contact as six players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Brandon Chen, who went 1-for-2 with one stolen base and one run. Evan Watson also deserves some recognition as he got his first hit of the season.
Santa Clara pushed their record up to 22-3 with the win, which was their sixth straight on the road. The road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Saratoga, they have traveled a rocky road recently, having lost three of their last four contests. That's put a noticeable dent in their 5-12 record this season.
Santa Clara took their win against Saratoga in their previous meeting back in April by a conclusive 7-0 score. Will the Bruins repeat their success, or do the Falcons have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
