May 1, 2003
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University baseball team travels to Malibu, Calif., this weekend for a key three-game series with Pepperdine beginning Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
SCU enters the weekend series with a 25-22 overall record and a 13-3 mark that they posted during the month of April. More importantly is the Broncos 16-5 record in the West Coast Conference which places them just one game behind the Coast Division leader, Pepperdine.
The Waves enter the weekend with a 29-16 overall record and a 17-4 mark in league play. They posted a 14-2 record during the month of April, which combined with Santa Clara's record made those two teams the hottest duo from any conference on the West Coast.
Santa Clara and Pepperdine's 27-5 combined record during April was two better than the Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State tandem from the Big West, who combined for a 25-7 record during that month. Arizona State and USC from the Pac-10 combined for a 20-6 mark during April while UNLV and San Diego State went 21-10. Rice and Nevada from the WAC went 22-10.
Back in March the Broncos and Waves met for the first time this season at Buck Shaw Stadium with Santa Clara coming away with two victories in the three-game series. SCU won game one by a 10-2 score behind a Matt Travis complete game seven-hitter. The Broncos took game two by a 4-3 score in 10 innings as a Scott Shapiro walk-off home run in the 10th provided the dramatics. Pepperdine took the series finale by a 8-2 score as Jacob Barrack went seven strong innings for the win.
Both teams enter the weekend with momentum as each won their midweek game against local rivals. Santa Clara handed No. 7 Stanford a 2-0 loss Tuesday night at Sunken Diamond while Pepperdine defeated Cal State Northridge by a score of 9-4 in Malibu.
Following Friday's series opener at 3 p.m., the two teams will play games two and three on Saturday and Sunday starting at 1 p.m. each day. All three games can be followed live on the internet at SantaClaraBroncos.com with livestats coverage provided by the Broncos and live internet audio coverage provide by Pepperdine.