By, Brandon Rebboah
Complete Release in PDF Format
SANTA CLARA, Calif.- The Santa Clara Broncos (11-10) will look to improve upon their four-game winning streak with a mid-week game against UC Davis and a weekend series against Cal State Bakersfield. The Broncos aim to continue their offensive production, having scored 48 runs in their recent series against Brown.
Wednesday's game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Stephen Schott Stadium. UC Davis is 4-14 on the season, and split a doubleheader with San Jose State on Monday, Mar. 28. Cal State Bakersfield comes to Santa Clara with an 18-6 record, and winners of their last seven. The Broncos will take on the Roadrunners in a three-game set. The series will begin Friday, Apr. 1, with the second game Saturday, Apr. 2 and the series-finale Sunday, Apr. 3.
Fans should keep an eye on SantaClaraBroncos.com, @SCUBroncos on Twitter or the athletics Facebook page for in-game updates.
Game Notes Week #7 Mar. 30-Apr.3, 2011
UC Davis @ Santa Clara
Wed., Mar. 30, 2011. 6 p.m. | Stephen Schott Stadium
Probable Starters: RHP Joe Supple (0-1; 6.57 ERA) vs. RHP Harry Stanwyck (0-0; 0.00)
Cal State Bakersfield @ Santa Clara
Fri.-Sun, Apr. 1-3, 2011 | Stephen Schott Stadium
FRI 6 p.m. - RHP Cory Hall (3-3; 3.96 ERA) vs. RHP Mike McCarthy (3-2; 1.23 ERA)
SAT 1 p.m. - RHP Brock Simon (2-3; 5.85 ERA) vs. LHP Jonathan Montoya (4-1; 3.27 ERA)
SUN 1 p.m. - RHP Chris Mendoza (2-2; 3.18 ERA) vs. RHP Tommy Hoenshell (4-3; 1.96 ERA)
Live Stats/Video: Santaclarabroncos.com/livestats
Game Notes
Santa Clara is led by 10th-year head coach Mark O'Brien
The Broncos are on a four-game winning streak
The Broncos have scored a combined 35 runs in their last two games
SCU beat UC Davis on a walk-off hit-by-pitch on Mar. 13
SCU ace Cory Hall is coming off a complete game in which he struck out 11 batters
CS Bakersfield comes into the weekend series with a 18-6 record
Freshman Kyle DeMerritt and sophmore Matt Ozanne are tied for a team-high 18 RBI
Santa Clara Pitching
Senior RHP Cory Hall notched a team single-game high of 11 strikeouts in his Mar. 26 complete game against Brown, improving to 3-3 on the year. Junior closer J.R. Graham (team-leading 1.54 ERA) picked up his third save of the season in the first game of the Mar. 27 doubleheader against Brown. Graham pitched two hitless innings, striking out two batters. In addition to leading all SCU pitchers in ERA, he is second on the team in stikeouts (22 in 17.2 IP) while Hall leads the team with 35 Ks in 38.2 innings pitched. Sophomore RHP Chris Mendoza (3.18 ERA) started the second game of Sunday's doubleheader against Brown, allowing one earned run over seven innings. Starter RHP Brock Simon will look to improve on his 5.85 ERA and 2-3 record this weekend as the Saturday starter against Bakersfield. LHP Powell Fansler (2.45 ERA, 3-0) has started three games, including Monday's victory over Brown. In Monday's start, Fansler had a no-hitter through 5.2 innings, striking out two batters.
Santa Clara Offense
Senior C/DH Patrick Terry seems to have found a rhythm, and has hit the ball well since the beginning of the Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament. Terry is batting .318 and has 14 RBI on the season. The Broncos have been rather successful at the small-ball game this year, correctly executing several sacrifice and squeeze bunt situations. Junior OF Lucas Herbst tops the team in sacrifice bunts with four. On the year, freshman 3B Kyle DeMerritt leads all hitters with a .338 batting average and is tied for first on the team in RBI (18) . All-WCC preseason selection, senior 1B Curtis Wagner leads the team in doubles with six and is second in RBI with 17. OF Matt Ozanne exploded offensively during the series with Brown. He was 5-14 at the plate, posting eight RBI including a three-run homerun.
UC Davis
The Aggies have not had much success in the win column this season, winning only four games, but are coming off of a victory over San Jose State. Davis has been battling weather, causing them to cancel their first game against San Jose State and combining Saturday and Sunday's game into a doubleheader on Mar. 28. IF Paul Politi leads all Aggies in batting average (.328), RBI (10) and walks (9). RHP/OF David Popkins leads the Aggies in hits (21), total bases (31) and slugging-percentage (.477).
Cal State Bakersfield
The Roadrunners come into the weekend series with Santa Clara as winners of their last seven games. Bakersfield stole a game from No. 3 South Carolina, then swept Lafayette and Ohio State. The Roadrunners are led by C Jeremy Rodriguez who leads the team in batting average (.348), while INF Martin Medina leads the team in RBI (25). On the mound, Bakersfield is anchored by Mike McCarthy, who has the lowest ERA of the starters (3-2; 1.23 ERA) and Tommy Hoenshell (4-3; 1.90 ERA) has pitched the most innings (55.0).
Quotable
--- "We had a meeting on Thursday with our pitchers and talked a lot about pitching to contact and pitching through adversity, which we hadn't been doing a good job of," said head coach Mark O'Brien. "Tonight Cory (Hall) did both and gave us a big effort which is a great sign of leadership out of him. He's been a different guy for us this year, displaying a better mindset and attitude and it's been the difference for him. He did a heck of a job tonight."
--- "I think we were consuming ourselves with having quality at-bats," said head coach Mark O'Brien. " We weren't afraid to hit deep in the count, I think that was a big factor for us."
--- "It is important for us [the upperclassmen] to lead by example so the freshmen have someone to model themselves after," said Curtis Wagner. "That being said, while we still are very young, we should not play like a young team."
