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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Less than 24 hours after wrapping up its WCC opening series against Pepperdine, Santa Clara baseball hit the road for a two-game series against the San Diego State Aztecs at Tony Gwynn Stadium. First pitch on Tuesday, March 25 is scheduled for 6 p.m. and first pitch on Wednesday, March 26 is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Probable Starters
Tue., March 25, 6 p.m.
SCU: LHP Kevin George (1-0, 1.26 ERA) vs. SDSU: T.J. Kendzora (2-0, 1.74 ERA)
Wed., March 26, 3 p.m.
SCU: TBA vs. SDSU: TBA
Live Stats and Radio
Baseball sports information director David Gentile is slated to call Tuesday and Wednesday's games.
Click here to access a radio feed for all games this weekend.
Click here to access to live stats Tuesday. Click here for access to live stats Wednesday.
This Week's Opponent: San Diego State
San Diego State enters the two-game set with a 17-6 overall record, including a 10-2 mark at Tony Gwynn Stadium in 2014. Last weekend, the team went 1-2 at UNLV. March 21 was a game of scoring runs as SDSU went up 2-0 in the second, UNLV answered with five straight runs and held off a late Aztec rally to win 5-4. On March 22, the Aztecs spread five runs over four innings to win 5-2 and on March 23, the Rebels scored four in the first and went on to win 9-1. The Aztecs have posted separate winning streaks of five games (Feb. 22 – March 2) and seven games (March 8-17) this season.
Former 15-time MLB all-star Tony Gwynn is in his 12th season as head coach of the Aztecs, and enters this week with a 338-348 (.493 winning percentage) overall record. San Diego State and Santa Clara split a two-game series at Stephen Schott Stadium last season, with the Aztecs winning 12-3 on Feb. 26, 2013 and the Broncos winning 7-4 on Feb. 27, 2013.
Bronco Offense
The Broncos are coming off a weekend in which they recorded two runs on 14 hits in three games against the Pepperdine Waves. Casey Munoz led the team by going 4-for-10 with a double. Jose Vizcaino, Jr. and Kert Woods picked up three hits apiece, and each of those three doubled in the opening series of WCC play.
Kert Woods leads all active Broncos with a .341 (14-for-41) batting average, Stevie Berman leads all active Broncos with 22 hits and Zach Looney tops the team with 14 RBIs. Mac Hess is the only other active Bronco hitting above .300 with a .333 (15-for-45) batting average.
The senior duo of Greg Harisis and Casey Munoz was among the most productive offensive players last season, as Munoz led the Broncos in batting average (.308), hits (64), doubles (10) and RBIs (31) while Harisis led the Broncos in on-base percentage (.399) and stolen bases (13-for-15).
Harisis is currently week-to-week with an undisclosed illness.
Bronco Pitching
Tuesday's probable Kevin George will make his first collegiate start after 14.1 innings and eight appearances out of the bullpen to start the season. He leads Santa Clara pitchers that have thrown more than one inning with a 1.26 ERA (two earned runs in 14.1 innings) and tops all Bronco relievers with 14 strikeouts on the season. He made one relief appearance against Pepperdine, throwing 2.2 shutout innings with no hits, no walks and three strikeouts. He has gone 12.1 innings without allowing a run.
Santa Clara starters combined to allow one run on nine hits in the 15.0 total innings between the first and the fifth last weekend against Pepperdine. They combined to allow nine runs and seven earned runs over 26.0 innings in the four games Feb. 20-23 for a collective 2.42 ERA. In 26.0 innings and four games of opening weekend, Bronco starting pitching recorded a 2.76 ERA.
Scouting San Diego State
T.J. Kendzora is scheduled to start Tuesday for the Aztecs. He will make his fourth start and seventh appearance of the season, and currently has a 2-0 record and a 1.74 ERA (eight runs, four earned runs in 20.2 innings pitched).
Ty France has started all 23 games for the Aztecs this season, and leads the team with a .407 batting average, 35 hits, 23 runs scored, 12 doubles, four home runs, 26 RBIs, a .686 slugging percentage and a .475 on-base percentage.
The Aztecs are hitting .311 as a team on the season and averaging 10.7 hits per game. San Diego State has four regular starters hitting better than .300 and seven players with at least 10 RBIs, including 23-game starter Tim Zier, who has a .356 batting average and 18 RBIs.
Welcome to the New Age
Several Santa Clara freshmen have seen a significant part of the action this season: Stevie Berman has made 20 appearances and 18 starts (20-18), Rory Graf-Brennen (16-7), Max Kuhns (16-14 in the field, three relief appearances), Seaver Whalen (9-6), Kyle Czaplak (19-12) and Tyler Meditz (16-2).
Four of five Bronco pitchers to make a start this season are underclassmen: sophomore Reece Karalus, sophomore Peter Hendron, sophomore Jacob Steffens and redshirt-freshman Steven Wilson. Friday night's starter and senior D.J. Zapata is the lone upperclassman in the current rotation.
Santa Clara Bests Manhattan 10-2, O'Brien Earns 500th Career Win (Click Here for the full game story)
Bronco head coach Dan O'Brien won his 500th career game as the Broncos defeated Manhattan 10-2 on March 2. The third-year Santa Clara head coach won 454 games with his alma mater, UC San Diego, and has 46 wins in his time with the Broncos.
"There's been a ton of great memories and some big team wins in there, but I don't do this for the wins," O'Brien said after Sunday's game. "I coach for the countless lifelong relationships I've developed over the years. Those mean the world to me."
Peter Hendron Named College Sports Madness West Coast Player of the Week
Sophomore pitcher Peter Hendron was named the College Sports Madness West Coast Player of the Week for March 3, 2014. Hendron posted career high marks with 8.0 innings and seven strikeouts in a 10-2 win March 2 against Manhattan at the Sanderson Ford Baseball Classic in Surprise, Ariz. last weekend. He allowed two runs (one earned) on eight hits with two walks and held the Jaspers to 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position to earn the winning decision to improve to 2-1.
Greg Harisis Named Rawlings WCC Baseball Player of the Week
Greg Harisis won Irish Baseball Classic MVP honors with a stat line of 9-for-19, three RBIs, seven runs scored, two doubles, one home run and an outfield assist as the Broncos went 4-0 Feb. 20-23. He was named the WCC Rawlings Baseball Player of the Week, becoming the first Bronco to earn the honor since Patrick Terry on May 23, 2011.
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