SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball begins the second half of the 2015 season with a Thursday-Saturday home series against Bay Area rival San Francisco. The Broncos and Dons play Thursday at 6 p.m., Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Broncos are coming off a stretch of seven games in nine days, in which the team posted a 6-1 record with victories over No. 30 San Diego, Grand Canyon, Pacific and No. 26 Nevada.
Santa Clara overcame a 4-0 first-inning deficit by scoring nine of the final 10 runs Friday night to defeat Pacific 9-5. The Broncos rallied to overcome a multi-run deficit for the second game in a row as part of a 3-2 victory over the Tigers Saturday to clinch the team's first West Coast Conference series win of 2015. Santa Clara fell behind 6-0 through the third inning Sunday, and fell a run short of the Tigers 7-6, leaving the potential game-tying run at first in a one-run ninth inning. Eric Lex and Jason Seever each pitched 4.0 shutout innings And Reece Karalus closed down the ninth to limit a high-powered Nevada offense to four hits in a 3-0 Bronco win Monday.
The Dons won two of three games against Saint Mary's last weekend — including a Saturday tilt at AT&T Park — before falling to Stanford 5-3 in a midweek contest. They continue a road-heavy stretch; by the end of the series USF will have played 22 of 32 games on the road this season.
STARTING PITCHERS
Thursday, April 2
SCU RHP Steven Wilson (3-2, 3.99 ERA) - USF RHP Anthony Shew (3-3, 3.66 ERA)
Friday, April 3
SCU LHP Kevin George (2-2, 3.82 ERA) - USF LHP Christian Cecilio (2-1, 1.83 ERA)
Saturday, April 4
SCU TBD - USF LHP Sam Granoff (1-2, 1.63 ERA)
QUICK PITCHES
Game 24: Thursday, April 2, 2015 — 6 p.m. PST
Game 25: Friday, April 3, 2015 — 6 p.m. PST
Game 26: Saturday, April 4, 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: 160-75-1 SCU
First Meeting: 1931
Last Meeting: 5/4/14 SCU won 2-1 at Benedetti Diamond
Last Season: Santa Clara won two of three at Benedetti Diamond
Steven Wilson makes his eighth start of the season for the Broncos Thursday night. Wilson allowed five earned runs on 10 hits with a walk and three strikeouts in 6.2 innings to improve to 3-2 Friday night against Pacific. Following a four-run first inning, Wilson held the Tigers to one run on five hits through his final 5.2 innings. Santa Clara is 5-2 on the season with the Littleton, Colo. native as its starting pitcher; Wilson has pitched at least 6.0 innings in seven appearances with five quality starts. He has walked one batter or fewer in each of his last five games.
Kevin George makes his 12th appearance and sixth start of the season Friday night. He allowed two earned runs on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts Saturday against Pacific for a quality start and a winning decision. George made his first six appearances of the season out the bullpen, and has served as a starting pitcher in his last five outings. He set career highs with 7.0 innings pitched and seven strikeouts in his first start of the season March 3 at Cal Poly, then broke his career strikeout mark with eight March 14 at LMU.
Reece Karalus has picked up four saves in a six-game and eight-day span March 22 against San Diego, March 24 at Grand Canyon, March 29 against Pacific and March 30 against Nevada. He ranks 3rd in program history with 20 career saves. Anthony Rea (2001-05) and Mike McDonald (1994-97) share the program record with 25 career saves.
Jose Vizcaino, Jr. went 8-for-23 with two doubles, a triple and two home runs alongside a team-best 10 RBIs and team-best seven runs scored over last week's five-game stretch. He slugged at a .783 clip as five of his eight hits went for extra bases and hit safely with at least one RBI in all five contests. He drove in the game's decisive run on an RBI triple in the sixth as part of a 9-5 Bronco victory Friday, and produced the game-deciding hit on a two-run scoreboard shot to left center field Saturday. He tops the Broncos with eight multi-hit games and is currently on a 12-game hitting streak. He ranks 4th in the WCC with a .373 batting average, 1st with a .711 slugging percentage, 2nd with a .459 on-base percentage, 1st with six home runs and 4th with 25 RBIs.
T.J. Braff tied Vizcaino, Jr. with eight hits last week, and went 8-for-22 with a double, a home run, nine RBIs and four runs scored. He is one of three Broncos with a single-game high of four RBIs in 2015 alongside Vizcaino, Jr. and Stevie Berman.
Berman led the Broncos with six runs scored, six walks and a .455 on-base percentage last week. Since Berman's season debut March 13 at LMU, the Broncos have batted Grant Meylan, Berman and Vizcaino, Jr. in the top three spots of their lineup nine times — more than any other 1-2-3 combination this season. Each boasts an on-base percentage higher than .400. Monday night marked Berman's second four-hit outing in Santa Clara's last seven contests, including a two-run homer in a 3-0 victory over the Wolf Pack.
Meylan has reached base safely in 26 of 27 games to start his college career, and done so multiple times in 19 of those games. He leads the WCC with 26 walks and ranks 5th in the conference with a .449 on-base percentage.
Anthony Shew makes his eighth start of the season for the Dons Thursday night. In his last outing, the junior tossed 8.0 frames and allowed one earned run on eight hits with a walk and six strikeouts as part of a 3-1 victory over the Saint Mary's Gaels. Shew ranks second on the team in strikeouts (43) and innings pitched (51.2). The right-handed pitcher has thrown at least 8.0 innings five times this season, including a 2015-best 8.1 innings March 20 at Pacific. Shew has struck out at least six batters in each of his last four games.
Christian Cecilio makes his eighth start of the season Friday night, and is the reigning Rawlings WCC Pitcher of the Week. Last Saturday against the Gales, Cecilio threw a complete game shutout — his second in three starts — with seven strikeouts in a 2-0 Dons victory. He fell one out short of a complete game in a 3-2 loss at Pacific March 21. The senior has thrown at least 7.0 inning in each of his last six starts, and allowed two earned runs or in all six outings. Cecilio has given up one earned run in his last 29.1 innings.
Sam Granoff makes his eighths start and fifth appearance of the season for the Dons Saturday afternoon. Granoff made the start at Stanford Tuesday, and pitched 2.0 shutout innings while allowing two hits. In his last three starts, Granoff has allowed a combined four earned runs in 20.2 innings. Each of those starts has been in a midweek contest for the Dons (at Oregon March 11, vs. Cal March 17, vs. UC Davis March 24).
Logan West leads San Francisco with three saves in 12 relief appearances, while Matt Narahara has taken the hill a team-high 14 times out of the bullpen this season. Both Anthony Buonopane and Brock Larson have also recorded a save.
San Francisco ranks 7th in the WCC with a 4.31 ERA and 4th in the conference with a .971 fielding percentage entering the series.
Dominic Miroglio leads the team in batting average as the only Dons hitter batting higher than .300 at .318. Brendan Hendriks tops the team with 18 RBIs, followed by Miroglio with 17 and Derek Atkinson with 15 on the season. Atkinson tops the team with 15 walks and Connor Hofman leads the Dons in stolen bases with seven (on 10 attempts) this season.
In nine conference matchups, Hendriks has a team-high eight RBIs while Hendriks has driven in six runs. The Dons are being outhit .283 to .243 by WCC opposition, and only outscored 32-27 in conference play this season.
Hofmann and Michael Eaton each hit safely in all three games of San Francisco's series victory over Saint Mary's.
San Francisco has scored three runs or fewer nine times in their last 12 games, and have posted a 6-6 record over that stretch. The Dons and their opponents have combined to score 72 runs over the six-game span, with an average of six total runs per contest.
