Posted: Feb 26, 2018
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara baseball continues its nine-game homestand hosting Mountain West Conference's Nevada Wolfpack in a midweek game on Tuesday at Stephen Schott Stadium.
The Broncos are coming off a 2-1 series win over Wake Forest of the Atlantic Coast Conference last weekend.
In the series opening win on Friday, four Santa Clara pitchers combined to shutout Wake Forest, 2-0, striking out 16 Demon Deacons and not allowing a runner past second base all night. An RBI single by Jake Brodt in the first and a John Cresto solo homer in the fourth inning provided the runs for the Broncos.
On Saturday, the Broncos came back to win in walk-off fashion on Joe Becht's RBI double in the bottom of the 14th inning to secure the series win. With the game tied, 6-6, and Lucas Eliason on first, Becht sent the ball over Wake Forest right fielder Nick DiPonzio's head. Eliason, who got on base on a walk, never broke stride and slid head first to beat the relay to cap the come from behind win for the Broncos. Santa Clara scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to extend the game to extra-innings where Penn Murfee pitched five scoreless innings to earn a win.
In the series finale, Demon Deacons starter Colin Peluse pitched eight shutout innings before John Cresto hit a solo shot off of Demon Deacon reliever Rayne Supple in the bottom of the ninth in the 3-1 loss.
For the series, the Bronco pitching staff gave up just eight earned runs while striking out 33 batters. On the season, the Broncos have a stellar 3.31 ERA. Relievers Penn Murfee, Freddie Erlandson and Eric Lex have combined for 21 innings without allowing a run.
Nevada (3-3) comes into the game splitting a Sunday doubleheader against Oral Roberts after its Friday and Saturday games in Tulsa, Oklahoma were postponed.
Series Information
Games #8 | Home Games #7
Santa Clara, Calif. | Stephen Schott Stadium
All-Time Series: Santa Clara leads 85-49-2
Probable Starters
Tuesday, Feb. 27 • 6 p.m. PT
SCU RHP Travis Howard (0-0, 7.36 ERA) vs. Nevada LHP Dalton Gomez (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
GAMEDAY INFORMATION |
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| Tickets | Click here |
| Live Stream / Video |
Tune in 10 minutes before the first pitch to listen to Bronco assistant coach Jon Karcich in the pregame interview. |
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| Opposing Team | |
About Santa Clara
Veteran Team
•Offensively the Broncos have 10 players returning from 2017 that started more than 20 games and 16 players that recorded an at-bat.
•Seven of those players started 30 or more games.
•On the mound, the Broncos return nine pitchers including six who played last season, three returning from injuries (Steven Wilson, Freddie Erlandson, Travis Howard), along with a transfer from Vanderbilt (Penn Murfee).
Preseason Accolades
•Senior first baseman Jake Brodt and junior third baseman John Cresto were named preseason All-West Coast Conference. Last season, Brodt was named first team All-WCC with Cresto being named honorable mention All-WCC.
Captains
•Sixth-year senior right-handed pitcher Steven Wilson and senior first baseman Jake Brodt were named captains for the 2018 Santa Clara squad.
Brodt's Two Grand Slams In One Inning
•Brodt hit two grand slams in the seventh inning on Feb. 17 against Boston College, becoming just the seventh Division I player to accomplish the feat since the NCAA began keeping records in 1957. He is the first to do so since 2000 when T.J. Soto of Louisiana Tech did it against Western
Kentucky.
•Brodt's first grand slam came with the Broncos trailing 9-7 in the seventh inning and put them up for good. His second grand slam came with the Broncos up 16-9. In the first inning, Brodt hit a sacrifice fly for the first RBI of the game and in the sixth, Brodt hit a solo home run to finish the game 3-for-5 with three home runs and 10 RBIs.
•The Huntington Beach, California native's two grand slams in an inning was featured on ESPN's SportsCenter and was named NCBWA National Hitter of the Week and Rawlings West Coast Conference Player of the Week.
Hit By Pitch
•On Feb. 17, Boston College hit 10 Bronco players, tying an NCAA Division I record along with Baylor vs. TCU, March 6, 2012; Saint Joseph's vs. Fordham, April 5, 2009; Washington vs. Rice, May 22, 1998.
•Seven Broncos were hit in an inning (in the seventh) of the Feb. 17 game, breaking the NCAA Division I record (Previous record: 6—Hawaii vs. Hawaii Hilo, Feb. 8, 1998 (eighth inn.)
•Santa Clara is seventh in the nation in being hit by a pitch with 18. Texas Tech is first with 23.
Streaks
•Cresto has hit a home run in three consecutive games, all solo shots. He has four home runs on the season, ranking eighth nationally.
•Joe Becht has reached base safely in all seven games this season.
Firsts
•Sixth-year senior right-handed pitcher Steven Wilson made his first appearance out of the bullpen since 2014 in the season opener against Boston College (Feb. 16). He made first start of the year a week later against Wake Forest (Feb. 23), picking up the win/
•Wilson, redshirt sophomore right-handed pitchers Travis Howard and Freddie Erlandson returned to action in the season opening series against Boston College after missing all of last season due to injuries.
•Junior right-handed pitcher Luke Martin-Resnick and sophomore Alex Waldsmith each made their first career starts in the season opening series against Boston College (Feb. 16 & 17)
•Senior outfielder Anthony Geremia made his first career start at center field on Feb. 17.
•Erlandson was the pitcher on record in Rusty Filter's first win as Santa Clara head coach on Feb. 17.
•Sophomore Jason Dicochea hit his first collegiate home run vs San Jose State (Feb. 20).
•Fifth-year senior Penn Murfee picked up his first career save against San Jose State (Feb. 20) dating back to his days at Vanderbilt. Four days later, Murfee got his first career win against Wake Forest (Feb. 24) shutting out the Demon Deacons in the last five innings of the 14th inning walk-off win by the Broncos.
First-Year Players
•Freshman right-handed pitcher Cade Negley made his Bronco debut when he came in relief on opening day (Feb. 16) pitching an inning and giving up a hit and striking out a batter.
•Freshman catcher Tony Boetto got a single in his first two at-bats on Feb. 17. He also made his first career start against San Jose State (Feb. 20) behind the dish.
•Penn Murfee, a fifth-year senior transfer from Vanderbilt made his Bronco debut in relief on Feb. 17.
•Freshman RHP Kent Morrison and LHP Eric Madric made their Bronco debuts in relief on Feb. 25 against Wake Forest.
About Nevada
• Nevada head coach TJ Bruce is in his third season with the program.
• In 2017, the Wolfpack made the conference tournament for the third year in a row, the second time in head coach TJ Bruce's tenure with the team.
• RHP Mark Nowaczewski was named to the All-Mountain West first team, while Justin Bridgman, Trevor Charpie and Grant Fennell each earned recognizition on the second team.
• Nowaczewski earned MW Pitcher of the Week honors three times in 2017, including two weeks in a row at one point during the season.
• Mike Echavia was named to the NCAA I West All-Region second-team after fin- ishing the season with a .307 batting average and leading the Wolf Pack with 42 RBI, 15 doubles, 36 runs scored and nine home runs.
• Echavia was also named to the All-MW Tournament Team after batting .333 with three RBI and a two-run home run in two games.
Tickets: Season or single-game tickets are available. Click here to purchase online or contact the ticket office in Leavey Center weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. at (408) 554-4660 or BroncoTickets@scu.edu. Group discounts are also available through our ticket office sales and service consultants. Gates to Stephen Schott Stadium, as well as its ticket booth, are open one hour prior to the start of the game.
Parking: 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. All SCU 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. Click here for a campus parking map.