SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball hits the road this week for a spring break matchup with Grand Canyon. The Broncos and Antelopes will play a Tuesday contest at 6:30 p.m. followed by a Wednesday matchup at 2:30 p.m. from Brazell Stadium in Phoenix, Ariz. The series marks the first meeting between Santa Clara and Grand Canyon; the Antelopes joined the Western Athletic Conference in 2013 after competing in the NAIA.
LEADING OFF
The Broncos enter the midweek set coming off a 1-2 effort at home against the West Coast Conference's University of San Diego. On Friday night, USD's David Hill outdueled Santa Clara's Steven Wilson as each threw 8.0 innings in a 2-1 Torero victory. USD won the Saturday matchup 10-1 before Santa Clara rallied for a 7-1 victory Sunday. In the Sunday contest, senior left-handed pitcher Evan Brisentine threw a career-high 6.1 shutout innings and earned his first winning decision as a Bronco in his 25th appearance with the team. The Broncos are 4-2 against San Diego in their last six matchups, after going 3-27 in the prior 30 head-to-head contests from 2004-13.
The Antelopes enter Tuesday's game on a three-game winning streak, after sweeping North Dakota at home in their WAC opening series last weekend. Grand Canyon produced a pair of run-rule victories, 13-3 on Friday and 11-1 on Sunday, both of which were called in the seventh inning. GCU also won its Saturday contest 8-3 to start off WAC play at 3-0. Grand Canyon began the season by winning its first seven games and 10 of its first 13 games overall. On Feb. 15, the Antelopes scored 30 runs against the Bradley Braves at Brazell Stadium as part of a 30-7 victory to wrap up opening weekend.
QUICK PITCHES
Game 22: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 — 6:30 p.m. PST
Game 23: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 — 2:30 p.m. PST
Venue: Brazell Stadium —Phoenix, Ariz.
Live Stats: www.gcu.statbroadcast.com
Series Record: Have not met
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Tuesday, March 24
SCU RHP Eric Lex (0-1, 6.00 ERA) vs. GCU LHP Jake Repavich (4-0, 4.66 ERA)
Wednesday, March 25
SCU RHP Peter Hendron (1-1, 6.38 ERA) vs. GCU TBA
Eric Lex makes the fourth appearance and second start of his freshman campaign Tuesday night. In his last outing, the Redding, Calif. native issued a 1-2-3 ninth inning against the San Diego Toreros Saturday night. In his debut for the Broncos, Lex threw 4.0 innings and allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits with three walks and no strikeouts against UC Davis on Feb. 17. After the Aggies plated three runs in the first, Lex surrendered only one earned run through his departure at the end of the fourth. He tossed a 1-2-3 third inning and faced one batter above the minimum between the third and fourth.
Peter Hendron makes his sixth start of the season for the Broncos Wednesday afternoon. The junior started Sunday against San Diego and pitched 0.2 innings while allowing an earned run on one hit with three walks. His best outing of the season was back on Feb. 21 against Cincinnati, when he racked up seven strikeouts and gave up only two runs to earn his first win of the 2015 season.
Jake Repavich makes the 11th appearance and second start of his freshman campaign Tuesday night. The Vail, Ariz. native earned his fourth winning decision of the season in Saturday's victory over North Dakota, in which he allowed two earned runs on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts in 2.0 relief innings. In his only other start, Repavich pitched 5.0 innings and allowed four earned runs on eight hits with three walks and two strikeouts to pick up his third win of the season in a 12-4 win over Kansas March 3.
BRONCOS
Jose Vizcaino, Jr. and Stevie Berman tied for the Bronco lead with four hits each last weekend against San Diego. Vizcaino leads the Broncos in batting average (.386), hits (22), doubles (6), home runs (4), runs scored (15) RBIs (15), slugging percentage (.702) on-base percentage (.486) and stolen bases (4) entering the midweek series. He missed five games in early March with a hand injury, and returned to the lineup two weekends ago at LMU. Vizcaino, Jr. currently leads the team with a six-game hitting streak.
Berman doubled in each of his first three trips to the plate Sunday and finished the day by going 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored in the Santa Clara victory. His three doubles match a Bronco single-game high this season, set by Vizcaino, Jr. in an 8-2 victory over Eastern Michigan on March 27.
Grant Meylan has reached base safely in 20 of 21 games to start his college career, and done so multiple times in 17 of those games. He leads the WCC with 25 walks and has a .484 on-base percentage this season.
TC Florentine owns the longest hitting streak for the Broncos this season, spanning nine games from Feb. 28 - March 14.
TJ Braff is the only Bronco to record three or more hits multiple times this season; he has posted three games with three hits in 2015.
ANTELOPES
Brandon Smith leads everyday starters with a .349 batting average for the Antelopes. He is one of three GCU batters with more than 20 RBIs through the first 24 contests — Garrison Schwartz and Chad De La Guerra have drive in 20 runs apiece. Smith also tops GCU with five stolen bases on the season. He went 3-for-4 with six RBIs and two runs scored to finish a double shy of the cycle in an 11-1 victory Sunday over North Dakota.
David Walker tops the Antelopes with 15 walks on the season and Schwartz has also drawn double-digit walks with 10. Paul Panaccione has scored a GCU-best 24 runs while De La Guerra and Walker each have 23.
In Grand Canyon's 13-3 victory over North Dakota Friday, six different batters produced multiple hits and four different batters drove in multiple runs. The Antelopes won their three-game set with UND by a combined score of 32-7.
