SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball is set to host the San José State Spartans for its first home midweek game of the season on Wednesday night. The Broncos and Spartans continue their local rivalry with a 6 p.m. first pitch at Schott Stadium.
The Broncos defeated the Spartans 7-4 in their first matchup of the season Feb. 23 at Municipal Stadium. Santa Clara is coming off a weekend split at Hawai'i over spring break.
Santa Clara (10-12) vs. San José State (8-15)
Wednesday, March 30, 2016 | 6 p.m. PDT | Game #23 | Home Game #14
Santa Clara, Calif. | Stephen Schott Stadium
Live Stats: santaclara.statbroadcast.com | Video: TheW.tv
Probable Starters
SCU RHP Travis Howard (2-1, 2.41 ERA) vs. SJSU RHP Logan Handzlik (1-1, 7.15 ERA)
Series History
All-Time Series: Santa Clara Leads 130-88
First Meeting: 1936 | Last Meeting: February 23, 2016 — Santa Clara won 7-4 at Municipal Stadium
Tickets: Single-game options and season tickets are available. Click here to purchase tickets (link to single-game) For information, call (408) 554-4660 weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. or email BroncoTickets@scu.edu. Schott Stadium opens one hour prior to first pitch. The ticket office is also open one hour prior to the start of the game.
Game Day Promotions
• Giveaway: First 500 fans receive a team magnet
• Open to All Fans: San José Earthquakes Ticket Raffle - Two pairs of tickets to the DC United game on April 2 at Avaya Stadium
• Student Promotions: Country Mega Ticket Giveaway - Brantley Gilbert with Justin Moore & Colt Ford (July 7)
• Hot Chocolate Hitter: If Santa Clara's leadoff batter reaches base in any inning, hot chocolate is $1 at Bronco Concessions for the rest of the half inning
Parking
Baseball parking has changed for the 2016 season. Parking is now available in the Guadalupe lot, adjacent to 455 El Camino Real. The Guadalupe lot is reserved beginning 60 minutes before game time through the end of the event for free parking. Baseball parking is no longer allowed in the lot behind Schott Stadium's left field wall. Overflow parking is available in the Leavey Center lot. Spectators that plan to arrive more than an hour prior to game time on weekdays are encouraged to purchase a parking permit for the Leavey lot. Leavey lot parking is free on weekends. ADA parking is available in the lot directly in front of the main gates; there is no general public parking in this lot. Follow signs for parking instructions.
Last Weekend
Santa Clara played four games at Hawai'i and split the contests with the Rainbow Warriors.
Thursday — SCU 3 UH 1: Travis Howard made his first collegiate start and struck out seven batters in 6.2 innings for the Broncos.
Friday — UH 8 SCU 1: Hawai'i scored three runs in the first and tallied five more between the fifth and sixth innings to even the series.
Saturday — UH 3 SCU 2: The Rainbow Warriors were down to their last strike of the game facing a 2-1 deficit in the ninth, and scored a pair of runs on an RBI single and an error in the same play to walk off.
Sunday — SCU 5 UH 4: The Broncos scored four runs in the third and Hawai'i rallied for a two run ninth before Max Kuhns shut the door.
Broncos in the Field
Stevie Berman tops the team with a .303 batting average, .526 slugging percentage, eight doubles, 12 RBIs and 13 runs scored (t-John Cresto). Grant Meylan led the Broncos with five hits, a .500 batting average, a .583 on-base percentage and two RBIs (t-Jake Brodt) last weekend. Hawai'i native Tyler Meditz went 4-for-12 with a double, a triple, an RBI and three runs scored.
On Sunday, the Broncos played error-free baseball for the first time in 10 games and third time overall on the season. They forced four ground ball double plays by Rainbow Warrior hitters, and did not ground into a double play in the series.
Broncos on the Mound
Howard allowed an earned run on six hits and struck out seven in 6.2 innings Thursday night. The Marana, Ariz. native held the Rainbow Warriors to 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and recorded four straight strikeouts from the final out of the fifth through the end of the sixth.
Nick Medeiros picked up a save on Thursday and Max Kuhns added his seventh save of the year on Sunday. Medeiros struck out five batters in 4.1 innings and allowed a hit and two walks over three appearances at Hawai'i. In 17.0 innings this season, Medeiros has allowed just four hits for a .077 opposing batting average, alongside two earned runs for a 1.06 ERA.
San José State
The Spartans are 8-15 overall and 1-5 away from Municipal Stadium; they have won each of their last two games in walkoff fashion. After losing the first two games of last weekend's series at Fresno State, San José State got a walkoff single from Aaron Pleschner Saturday to mark its third conference win of the season. On Monday, the Spartans allowed four runs in the top of the ninth to Stanford, then matched the effort with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to win 10-9.
Shane Timmons leads the team with a slash line of .370/.427/.519. Pleschner has a club-high 15 RBIs and Dillan Smith has scored the most runs for the Spartans with 12. Handzlik is tied for a team-high six starts.
2016 Bronco Schedule Notes
- Santa Clara beat a ranked opponent on opening weekend for the second straight season by defeating No. 24 Notre Dame 2-0 on Saturday, Feb. 20 and 4-2 on Sunday, Feb. 21. The Broncos won a Saturday contest at defending national champion and unanimous preseason No. 1 Vanderbilt last year.
- Santa Clara played seven of its first eight games at home; the only road game in that stretch was a Tuesday win at San José State on Feb. 23.
- The Broncos played 13 games in 17 days to start the season.
- Santa Clara was slated to play four-game weekends four times during a five-weekend span from the end of February through the end of March; rainouts against Washington and UMass Lowell turned each of those sets into three-game matchups.
- The Broncos face 2015 WCC postseason champion Pepperdine at home and 2015 WCC regular season champion San Diego on the road during consecutive weekends in April.
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