SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball returns to Schott Stadium for its third West Coast Conference series of 2015 when it hosts Pacific this weekend. First pitch times are Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Broncos enter the weekend set after a two-game sweep of Grand Canyon on the road, with a 4-2 victory Tuesday and a 15-0 victory Wednesday. Santa Clara has won three in a row for the second time this season, and outscored its opponent 26-3 in that stretch.
Last weekend, the Broncos produced 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 Tigers split three games with San Francisco last weekend, all decided by a single run, ahead of a 12-10 loss to UT-Pan American Monday.
QUICK PITCHES
Game 24: Friday, March 27, 2015 — 6 p.m. PST
Game 25: Saturday, March 28, 2015 — 6 p.m. PST
Game 26: Sunday, March 29, 2015 — 1 p.m. PST
Venue: Stephen Schott Stadium — Santa Clara, Calif.
Video: portal.stretchinternet.com/santaclara
Live Stats: www.santaclara.statbroadcast.com
Series Record: 82-43-0 SCU
First Meeting: 1895
Last Meeting: 3/30/14 7-0 UoP W Game 1, 7-6 SCU W Game 2 (DH)
Last Season: Santa Clara won two of three at Klein Family Field
BRONCO PITCHERS
Steven Wilson makes his seventh start of the season for the Broncos Friday night. He tossed 8.0 innings for the second time in as many starts and fourth time in his career last Friday night vs. No. 30 San Diego to match his longest collegiate start. He allowed two earned runs on seven hits with one walk and three strikeouts in the loss. After the Toreros scored two runs in the fifth, Wilson and the Bronco defense combined to retire 10 batters in a row through the end of the eighth; Mitchell White extended the streak to 13 batters with a 1-2-3 ninth. Wilson has walked only three batters in his last 30.1 innings and thrown a quality start in five of six outings this season
Kevin George makes his 11th appearance and fifth start of the season Saturday night. He allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits with four walks and three strikeouts in 4.1 innings last Saturday against the Toreros. George made his first six appearances of the season out the bullpen, and has served as a starting pitcher in his last four outings. He set career highs with 7.0 innings pitched and seven strikeouts March 3 at Cal Poly, then broke his career strikeout mark with eight March 14 at LMU.
Reece Karalus picked up two saves in a two-game and three-day span March 22 against San Diego and March 24 at Grand Canyon earlier this week. By earning his 18th save of his career in Santa Clara's Tuesday matchup with the Antelopes, Karalus ranks 3rd in program history with 18 career saves. Anthony Rea (2001-05) and Mike McDonald (1994-97) share the program record with 25 career saves.
BRONCO HITTERS
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 (.358), doubles (8), home runs (4), runs scored (17) RBIs (18), slugging percentage (.657) and stolen bases (4) entering the weekend 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 an eight-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.
T.J. Braff and Jake Brodt each posted a team-best four hits in Santa Clara's two games at Grand Canyon in the midweek set. Braff drove in four runs to lead the Broncos and tied Brodt and Berman with Bronco highs of three runs scored between the two games.
Grant Meylan has reached base safely in 22 of 23 games to start his college career, and done so multiple times in 18 of those games. He leads the WCC with 25 walks and has a .475 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.
Braff is the only Bronco to record three or more hits multiple times this season; he has posted three games with three hits and one game with four hits in 2015.
TIGER PITCHERS/DEFENSE
Sean Bennetts makes his seventh appearance and fifth start of the season for the Tigers Friday night. The Stockton native and Delta JC transfer struck out a career-high seven batters Friday vs. San Francisco. He allowed six runs (five earned) on nine hits with a walk in 5.2 innings of a 7-6 Dons victory. On March 7, Bennetts pitched 6.1 shutout innings of relief in a 12-4 loss at Cal Poly.
Will Lydon makes his seventh start of the season Saturday night. In his last outing, Lydon allowed two earned runs on four hits in a career-high 8.1 innings pitched with a walk and two strikeouts March 21 at San Francisco. Lydon is tied for the team lead in strikeouts with Pacific relief pitcher Mike Hager; each has 26 entering the weekend. He struck out a career-high nine batters in a 6-5 loss March 14 at Saint Mary's to best a previous career-best mark of six strikeouts, which he posted three times.
Michael Benson makes his eighth appearance and fourth start of the season Sunday afternoon. In is last outing March 22 vs. San Francisco, Benson picked up the victory by pitching 6.0 innings and allowed an earned run on four hits with a walk and seven strikeouts. Benson made four relief appearances to start the season before being moved into the starting rotation March 8 vs. Cal Poly. In his last two starts, Benson has combined to pitch 12.0 innings while allowing an earned run on eight hits with a walk and nine strikeouts. He is the only starting pitcher to record a winning decision for the Tigers this season, and Pacific has won each of the last three times Benson has taken the mound.
Hager, Vince Arobio and John Jaeger are the most-used Tiger pitchers out of the bullpen, with Hager making 11 appearances on the season and each of the other two making nine appearances. Hager is averaging 10.03 strikeouts/nine innings and Arobio has recorded both of Pacific's saves on the season.
Tiger pitchers are allowing opposing teams to hit .295 in 22 games this season. They have a collective 5.42 ERA alongside a .945 fielding percentage entering the weekend.
Tyler Sullivan leads the Tigers with a .356 batting average on the season, and joins Gio Brusa (.329) as the two everyday players hitting better than .300 in 2015. Sullivan also leads the team with 31 hits, seven doubles (t- Gio Brusa) a .431 on-base percentage and four stolen bases. He recorded multiple hits in all three games of last weekend's series against San Francisco, and has reached base safely in 12 straight games, which includes a seven-game hitting streak entering the weekend.
Brusa has recorded seven extra-base hits in his last seven starts, and tops Pacific with a .579 slugging percentage. In Monday's matchup with UT-Pan American, he went 4-for-5 with a double, a triple and two runs scored. The four-hit performance was Brusa's second of the season, after going 4-for-6 with two doubles, two home runs, two RBIs and three runs scored in a 13-12 loss March 2 at Nevada. In addition to the power numbers, Brusa has also drawn a team-best 22 walks on the season.
Pacific averaged two runs per game through the first 10 games of the season, and has brought the average up to 5.83 runs per game through the team's last 12 games.
