On a sweltering day at the Saratoga High baseball field, about the only thing that went wrong for Wilcox was the broken bat reserve Michael Brown took home.
Other than Brown's bent stick, things went swimmingly for the Chargers, who defeated the Falcons 6-1, led by the pitching of Andrew Najeeb-Brush and the hitting of Adam Rios and Garret Ciuk.
The victory keeps Wilcox (16-5 overall, 8-1 league) one-half game ahead of Palo Alto in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division standings. Saratoga (11-7, 5-4) is in fourth place.
Rios' two-out, bases-loaded single down the left field line in the third inning drove home two runs to give the Chargers a lead they never surrendered.
"I was just hoping to see a fastball and drive it," Rios said. "It was middle-away and I hit it down the line. I was just hoping the second guy would score."
The Chargers added a single run in the fourth on Lorenzo Martinez's RBI single to make it 3-1. Then Rios came through again in the seventh with another run-scoring single to highlight a three-run inning. Robert Bowles also had an RBI single in the inning.
All of that was more than enough support for junior right-hander Najeeb-Brush, who gave up just four hits, struck out four and walked nobody.
Najeeb-Brush mixed a fastball he throws in the low to mid-80s with a slider and occasional change-up and slider to keep Saratoga off balance.
"This was the most fun I've had this season," Najeeb-Brush said. "Everyone in the dugout was in the game and we were all picking each other up. When the hitters get me a lead like that and we're playing that kind of defense, it makes things easy for me."
About the only bummer for the Chargers was the mangled metal Brown's bat absorbed. After a teammate displayed the damaged stick after an at-bat, it was surrendered to Brown's mom who no doubt went home to search for a sales receipt and warranty card.
As for Saratoga, the game began well with starting pitcher Kyle Dozier singling to right field to lead off the first and then coming around on catcher Stevie Berman's RBI single to left field. But that turned out to be half of the Falcons' hit total as they struggled against the Wilcox ace.
Ciuk led Wilcox with three hits in four at-bats as he reached base four consecutive times. Rios went 2-for-4 with three RBI and Martinez went 2-for-4 with one RBI.
Berman was 2-for-3 for Saratoga and had the Falcons' only RBI.
The teams meet again at 3:30 Friday at Wilcox.
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John Murphy may be followed on Twitter @PrepCat
