SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball begins its 2015 West Coast Conference campaign with a trip south to face the LMU Lions for a three-game series March 13-15 at Page Stadium in Los Angeles. The matchup features a pair of teams that each finished in the top four of the West Coast Conference in 2014 and earned a trip to the WCC Baseball Championship.
Santa Clara is coming off a 1-3 week, which started with a 3-0 shutout of Cal Poly Tuesday at Baggett Stadium in San Luis Obispo. Bronco starter Kevin George set career-high marks with 7.0 innings and seven strikeouts in the victory. The Santa Clara win snapped a four-game losing streak against Cal Poly dating back to 2013. The Broncos last won in San Luis Obispo on Feb. 21, 2012, during head coach Dan O'Brien's first season and fourth game at the helm of the program.
The Broncos spent last weekend in Manhattan, Kan., where they lost each contest in a three-game set against Kansas State. The Wildcats won 4-1 Friday, followed by a 17-5 victory Saturday and 10-3 victory Sunday to improve their record to 23-1 in their last 24 home games against nonconference foes.
LMU has faced a pair of nationally ranked opponents in its last four contests, beginning with a three-game set in Fayetteville against No. 20 Arkansas (Perfect Game USA) last weekend. The Lions fell 2-1 Friday and 13-7 Saturday before rallying for a 9-0 shutout win. They lost 6-2 at home to No. 1 TCU (Collegiate Baseball) Tuesday.
QUICK PITCHES
Games 16, 17, 18: Santa Clara (7-8, 2-6 Away) at LMU (9-7, 6-4 Home)
Dates: Friday, March 13, 2015 — 6 p.m. PST
Saturday, March 14, 2015 — 6 p.m. PST
Sunday, March 15, 2015 — 1 p.m. PST
Venue: George C. Page Stadium — Los Angeles, Calif.
Video: TheW.tv
Audio: Portal.stretchinternet.com/santaclara (David Gentile)
Live Stats: lmu.statbroadcast.com
Series Record: 89-79-0 SCU
Last Meeting (April 27, 2014) — 8-7 Santa Clara Win at Schott Stadium
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Friday, March 13, 2015 — 6 p.m. PST
SCU: RHP Steven Wilson (1-1, 4.74 ERA) vs. LMU: RHP Colin Welmon (2-2, 1.37 ERA)
Saturday, March 14, 2015 — 6 p.m. PST
SCU: LHP Kevin George (1-1, 2.95 ERA) vs. LMU: RHP Trevor Megill (1-2, 6.32 ERA)
Sunday, March 15, 2015 — 1 p.m. PST
SCU: TBD vs. LMU: RHP Tylor Megill (3-1, 1.96 ERA)
Wilson threw 5.2 innings and allowed 10 runs (seven earned) on nine hits with a walk and four strikeouts in his last outing Saturday at Kansas State. His 26 strikeouts entering the weekend are good for sixth in the WCC. Wilson made quality starts in each of his first three appearances on the season.
George made two starts last week, setting career high marks with 7.0 innings pitched and seven strikeouts in the 3-0 win at Cal Poly Tuesday. He allowed only two Mustang batters to reach safely with a hit and a walk on the evening. George allowed eight runs (three earned) on 13 hits in 4.0 innings pitched with no walks and two strikeouts Sunday at Kansas State. The Petaluma, Calif. native ranks 12th in the conference with a 2.95 ERA.
Welmon threw 5.2 innings and allowed two earned runs on seven hits with three walks and five strikeouts in a 2-1 Friday loss at Arkansas. Trevor Megill allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits with four walks and a strikeout in 2.1 innings in a 13-7 Saturday loss at Arkansas. In Sunday's series finale, Tylor Megill allowed one hit and four walks over 5.0 shutout innings with two strikeouts at part of a 9-0 Lions victory.
Welmon ranks third in the conference with a 1.37 ERA and Tylor Megill ranks fourth with a 1.96 ERA.
BRONCOS
After winning five games in a row with a sweep of Cincinnati and victories in the first two games against Eastern Michigan, the Broncos have lost five of their last six entering the weekend. Last weekend, Kansas State posted multiple runs in 10 of its 11 scoring innings and outscored Santa Clara 31-10.
Jose Vizcaino, Jr., who is day-to-day with a hand injury, is batting .394 and leads the Broncos with 10 RBIs, six doubles and two home runs. The Broncos are 1-5 since he sustained the injury March 1 against Eastern Michigan, and he has not played since. Vizcaino, Jr. is expected to return this weekend.
Grant Meylan's 17 walks rank first among WCC batters — he has six more than the five players tied for second place with 11 walks entering the weekend. His .507 on-base percentage ranks second in the WCC. Meylan has reached base safely in 15 straight games to begin his collegiate career, and gotten aboard multiple times in 13 of those games.
TC Florentine is currently on a seven-game hitting streak and has reached base safely multiple times in five of those seven games.
Stevie Berman made his season debut off the bench Saturday at Kansas State. The Saratoga, Calif. native was tabbed a 2014 WCC Honorable Mention selection and named to the All-WCC Freshman Team last season.
Reece Karalus has not allowed an earned run in his last 8.2 innings over six outings. The Bronco closer struck out 15 batters over that stretch while earning four saves and limiting opposing batters to three hits and four walks.
LIONS
LMU started the year at 7-2 on the strength of separate three-game and four-game winning streaks. The Lions are 2-5 in their last seven games, including matchups with Nebraska, Long Beach State, Arkansas and TCU. LMU boasts the second-best ERA in the WCC with a 3.26 mark and second-best fielding percentage at .977 entering the weekend.
David Edwards and Tanner Donnels each rank in the conference's Top 10 in batting average, with Edwards hitting .395 (fourth WCC) and Donnels hitting .364 (seventh WCC) entering the weekend. Donnels leads the team with 16 RBIs, a .636 slugging percentage and a .463 on-base percentage.
J.D. Busfield owns a WCC-best five saves, one more than Santa Clara's Reece Karalus, who stands alone in the conference in second place with four saves on the season.
THREE STRAIGHT DOUBLEHEADERS
The Broncos played three straight weekend doubleheaders to open the season. After playing a two-game Saturday slate against Vanderbilt opening weekend, Santa Clara hosted a Saturday doubleheader against Cincinnati and Sunday doubleheader against Eastern Michigan. Santa Clara is one of 10 NCAA DI teams to play in at least three straight doubleheader weekends to start the 2015 season.
The MEAC, Northeast Conference and Patriot League all feature weekend doubleheaders throughout conference play. The following are additional teams with significant consecutive doubleheaders in the 2015 season. All are to start the season unless otherwise noted:
Four Straight Weekends
Mississippi State
Saint Mary's (CA)
Three Straight Weekends
Cal State Northridge
Gonzaga
Michigan
Northwestern State
Oral Roberts
Purdue
Santa Clara
Seattle
Three Doubleheaders in Two Weekends
Wagner (Not to start season)
A FRESH LOOK
In its season-opening series at Vanderbilt, Santa Clara started four freshmen in the field — first baseman Jake Brodt, second baseman Joe Becht, third baseman Evan Haberle and right fielder Grant Meylan. The Broncos also started Edmonds Community College transfers TC Florentine in center field and Ryan Budnick at DH. Freshman pitchers Mitchell White and Josh Inouye also made their Santa Clara debuts opening weekend.
Eric Lex made his debut as the team's starting pitcher and Braden Frankfort made the start at catcher against UC Davis Feb. 17. Austin Fisher worked his way into the mix at second base during the Cincinnati series and now has eight starts on the year, while Alex Barden also made his Bronco debut out of the bullpen against the Bearcats.
HEAD COACHES
Dan O'Brien, the 36th head coach in school history with a program that dates back to 1883, enters his fourth season on the Mission campus in 2014-15. His record with the Broncos is 73-105 (.410 winning percentage) entering the weekend.
Bronco Baseball finished the 2014 season with a 26-30 overall record, including a 16-11 West Coast Conference mark good for a tie for fourth and an appearance in the WCC Baseball Championship. Head Coach Dan O'Brien's Broncos won seven WCC series overall, including five straight to close out the regular season, beginning with a three-game sweep of the San Diego Toreros at Fowler Park. The team that featured six all-WCC honorees won the most conference games for the program since 2004.
The team started the 2013 season with back-to-back wins over Seattle and wrapped up the year with a victory at LMU. The Broncos took down Stanford 3-0 on May 14. In O'Brien's first season in 2012, the Broncos started the year 5-0 with wins over Texas State, Wichita State, Louisiana-Lafayette and Cal Poly. Santa Clara would go on to win 26 games, the most since 2008.
Over eight seasons with his alma mater UCSD, O'Brien's Tritons qualified for five NCAA Division II West Regional showings, two NCAA National Championship Finals appearances and set a school record for wins four times. His accolades include:
2011 Daktronics West Region Coach of the Year
2011 NCBWA West Region Co-Coach of the Year
2011 CCAA Coach of the Year
2010 NCBWA National Coach of the Year
2010 ABCA/Rawlings West Region Coach of the Year
2010 NCBWA West Region Coach of the Year
2010 CCAA Coach of the Year
2010 FieldTurf Coach of the Year
2009 NCBWA National Coach of the Year
2009 ABCA/Rawlings West Region Coach of the Year
2009 CCAA Coach of the Year
Head Coach Jason Gill's Lions have produced a top-three finish in the West Coast Conference in four of the last six seasons. 2015 marks his seventh year at the helm of the program. His overall record as head coach of the Lions is 175-172 (.504 winning percentage). They were picked to win the WCC in the conference's preseason poll, receiving 77 points and six first-place votes. LMU boasts a pair of 2014 Freshman All-Americans in David Fletcher and Austin Miller. Starting pitchers Colin Welmon and Trevor Megill each return to the rotation after being selected in the 2014 MLB Draft.
WCC PRESEASON POLLS/ALL-CONFERENCE
The West Coast Conference announced the 2015 Preseason Poll and All-WCC teams Wednesday, Feb. 11, and Bronco baseball junior closer Reece Karalus as well as junior shortstop Jose Vizcaino Jr. have been selected to the preseason all-conference team.
Vizcaino Jr. was one of two Broncos to appear in all 56 games of the season and his 54 starts were the most for Santa Clara in 2014. He played primarily at shortstop and led the team in batting average (.323), hits (65), triples (3, t-Greg Harisis), RBIs (28) and stolen bases (11). The La Jolla, Calif. native posted the team's longest hitting streak at 12 games and tied for the team lead with eight multi-RBI games.
Karalus led the team with a 2.25 ERA and 11 saves — the second-most in Bronco baseball single season history — in 2014. Primarily serving as the team's closer, he posted a 6-2 record, struck out 46 batters in 48.0 innings and held opponents to a team-low .206 batting average.
Santa Clara is picked to finish seventh in the 10-team WCC, receiving 38 points. LMU was picked to win the conference with 77 points and six first-place votes. Pepperdine (72 points, three first-place votes) and San Diego (63 points, one first-place vote) round out the WCC's top three. The preseason poll and all-conference teams are voted on solely by the league's 10 head coaches.
BRONCO ROSTER BREAKDOWN
Santa Clara welcomes a large group of newcomers once again in the 2015 season. After bringing in 12 freshmen a season ago, the Broncos added 12 freshmen newcomers alongside two junior college transfers in TC Florentine and Ryan Budnick. The rest of the roster features 13 freshmen (including Mitchell White coming off a redshirt season) 10 sophomores, nine juniors and only three seniors — TJ Braff, Evan Brisentine and CJ Jacobe.
GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK
The Broncos return three pitchers that each made at least nine starts last season in Jacob Steffens, Steven Wilson and Peter Hendron. Santa Clara's current staff accounted for 40 of last season's 56 starts — then-senior and Friday night pitcher DJ Zapata made the other 16.
Steffens split time as a starter and a relief pitcher in 2014, beginning the season in the four-man starting rotation and returning to the weekend rotation in late April. He went 2-5 with a 3.90 ERA between 16 appearances and nine starts on the season. The Phoenix, Ariz. native posted better than a 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio with 43 strikeouts and 13 walks in 64.2 innings. The Broncos won seven straight games when Steffens took the mound at the end of last year's regular season.
Wilson made 11 appearances and 10 starts, serving as Santa Clara's Sunday starter for most of the 2014 season. He went 1-3 with a 4.37 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 55.2 innings. Opponents hit .272 against the Littleton, Colo. native during his freshman season.
Hendron pitched in the starting rotation all of last season for the Broncos, serving at the team's Saturday starter. He tied for the team lead with six wins as he posted a 6-4 record with a 4.34 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 83.0 innings over 14 starts. He pitched at least 7.0 innings in four consecutive games April 5-26 and allowed just four earned runs over the span.
Santa Clara also returns its four most-used relievers in 2014 First Team All-WCC Selection Reece Karalus (6-2, 2.25 ERA, 34 appearances, 11 SV), sophomore Jason Seever (3-2, 3.12 ERA, 29 appearances), junior Nick Medeiros and sophomore Kevin George.
IN THE FIELD
Jose Vizcaino Jr. joins sophomore catcher Stevie Berman (.322) and senior left fielder T.J. Braff (.309) as returning starters in the field, all three of whom hit better than .300 a season ago. Berman finished fourth in the WCC with a .443 on-base percentage and was named to the conference's all-freshman team. Braff took over first base in April after an injury to senior Mac Hess, and hit safely in 16 of 20 starts while recording 20 RBIs during that span alongside a spotless 1.000 fielding percentage at first base.
Berman is currently day-to-day recovering from a shoulder injury. Junior Kyle Cortopassi manned the Bronco backstop for all 28 innings in Nashville on opening weekend, started all three games for Santa Clara against Cincinnati two weekends ago and caught three of Santa Clara's four games against Eastern Michigan last weekend.
In addition to a talented freshman class, the Broncos welcome junior center fielder TC Florentine into the mix. The former Edmonds Community College Triton took home 2014 NWAACC Player of the Year and Gold Glove honors last season for head coach Scott Kelly's team. Florentine's Edmonds teammate and utility man Ryan Budnick was named All-NWAACC First Team in 2014.
FRESHMAN CLASS RANKED 64TH BY PERFECT GAME USA
Perfect Game USA revealed its incoming class of 2014-15 College Recruit Rankings in Nov. 2014, and ranked Santa Clara's class 64th of 296 NCAA Division I teams.
The group of 12 Broncos is the highest-rated SCU class since Perfect Game began ranking recruiting classes in 2011. It is also the third recruiting class under current head coach Dan O'Brien.
"From the beginning, our mission in recruiting was to get the right players, not the best players," associate head coach/recruiting coordinator Gabe Ribas said. "That takes seeing a prospect beyond his playing ability and talking with parents, coaches, teachers, peers and guidance counselors to find out what we will get on a day-to-day basis. The biggest mistakes I have made in recruiting are based on solely judging a player on ability."
BRONCO SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
Santa Clara's non-conference schedule is packed with top opposition in 2014 College World Series Champion Vanderbilt on the road opening weekend, CWS participant TCU on the road April 17-19, super regional participant Stanford (home April 14, away May 5) and regional finalist Cal Poly (away March 3, home April 21). In its last series before West Coast Conference play, Santa Clara hit the road to face Big XII powerhouse Kansas State, who made it to a super regional with a school record 45-win season in 2013.
The Broncos are the only team in the country to play a weekend series against the top two teams in the Collegiate Baseball preseason rankings — No. 1 Vanderbilt and No. 2 TCU.
A LONG DAY AT THE YARD
Santa Clara and Vanderbilt were originally scheduled to play a Friday, Saturday, Sunday series at Hawkins Field on opening weekend. Due to cold weather conditions for the Sunday's forecast — with the high temperature expected to peak at 30 degrees — the finale was moved to Saturday and the teams played a doubleheader.
Total game time for the Valentine's Day twin bill spanned seven hours and 53 minutes. Temperatures peaked in the high 40s for the start of Game 1 and dropped to as low as the high 20s by the end of the night — with wind chills as low as 15 degrees.
The Broncos used eight different pitchers — including Kevin George and Reece Karalus in both games — while the Commodores used seven. All told, the 15 arms combined to throw 720 pitches. Between the two one-run victories, there were 19 runs scored on 42 hits with five errors.
SEE YOU LATER
Santa Clara hosts 27 games at Stephen Schott Stadium this season, only six of which are played between the 1st and 13th of any given month. 17 of the team's 27 road games are played between the 1st and 13th of any given month.
VIZCAINO, JR. EARNS SECOND STRAIGHT WCC RAWLINGS PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR; ALSO NAMED COLLEGE SPORTS MADNESS WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK — FEB. 23, 2015
Jose Vizcaino, Jr. has been named Rawlings West Coast Conference Baseball Player of the Week for the second straight time, announced by the conference Monday. The Broncos swept the Cincinnati Bearcats in the three-game set at Schott Stadium by a combined score of 29-15 to improve to 4-3 over the weekend.
Vizcaino, Jr. also garnered the season's first player of the week award last Monday for his efforts on the road against the Vanderbilt Commodores. Santa Clara players and pitchers have combined to win three of the season's first four player of the week awards for baseball; Vizcaino, Jr. and Steven Wilson swept the honors from opening weekend.
All of the shortstop's hits went for extra bases — two doubles and two home runs — for a 1.091 slugging percentage. He led the team in RBIs (6) and runs scored (6) while adding three walks for a .467 on-base percentage.
In his second at-bat of the series, the La Jolla, Calif. native hit a long home run to left to tie the game at 2-2 in the third inning. His RBI double in Game 1 of a Saturday doubleheader started off a four-run seventh to give the Broncos a 10-6 lead en route to a 10-8 victory. As the third batter in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader, he hit a two-run homer to left as part of a three-run inning.
Vizcaino, Jr. either scored or drove in the first run in six of Santa Clara's 12 scoring innings on the weekend. In addition to being the offensive catalyst, he recorded six putouts and five assists as part of a second-straight error free weekend in 27 innings at shortstop. He took part in all three of Santa Clara's double plays.
WILSON, VIZCAINO, JR., SWEEP WCC RAWLINGS PITCHER AND PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARDS — FEB. 16, 2015
After winning the first game of a Saturday doubleheader at defending national champion and unanimous preseason No. 1 Vanderbilt over the weekend, Santa Clara baseball has swept the first West Coast Conference Rawlings Player and Pitcher of the Week awards for the 2015 season. Redshirt sophomore starting pitcher Steven Wilson and junior shortstop Jose Vizcaino, Jr. garnered the honors — announced by the WCC Feb. 16 — for their performances in Nashville.
WCC RAWLINGS PITCHER OF THE WEEK - STEVEN WILSON - RS SO. - RHP
Steven Wilson set the tone for the Broncos in their Saturday victory over the Commodores. He tossed a quality start by throwing 6.0 innings in Game 1 of a doubleheader and allowing three earned runs while striking out five.
After surrendering two runs in the first, Wilson held the Commodores to a single run over the next five frames as the Broncos built a 5-3 lead through his departure after the sixth. He was the only pitcher in the series to throw more than five innings, and punctuated the effort by striking out the last batter he faced.
WCC RAWLINGS PLAYER OF THE WEEK - JOSE VIZCAINO, JR. - JR. - SS
Jose Vizcaino, Jr. set the table by hitting .500 and posting a .667 on-base percentage for the Broncos on the road at Vanderbilt. He went 5-for-10 with a double, an RBI, two runs scored and five walks — four of which he drew in Game 2 of a Saturday doubleheader. He also made seven putouts and assisted on six more as part of a 1.000 fielding percentage in 28 innings at shortstop.
The Broncos took Game 1 of that Saturday doubleheader 7-6, in which the Santa Clara junior went 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. With one out in the top of the ninth, the 2014 First Team All-WCC selection stole home to break a 6-6 tie en route to a Bronco victory.
Vizcaino, Jr. was also one of 14 Division I players selected to the CollegeBaseball360.com Weekly Honor Roll.
