Posted: Mar 06, 2018
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara baseball plays a four-game home-and-home series with Sacramento State this week, starting with Thursday and Friday games at Schott Stadium followed by Saturday and Sunday games at Sacramento State's John Smith Field.
The two games at Schott Stadium will mark the end of the nine-game homestand for the Broncos where its won six of seven games. At 8-3 overall, the Broncos are off to its best start since 2012 when that team started 8-2.
Santa Clara is riding a four-game winning streak, having won the midweek game against Nevada on Feb. 27 before sweeping Utah over the weekend. The sweep of the Utes is the first weekend sweep of a Pac-12/Pac-10 team since 1999 when the Broncos swept Oregon State in four games. Santa Clara won a two-game home-and-home series against Stanford back in 2015.
The pitching has been the name of the game for Santa Clara boasting a team ERA of 2.94. In the last seven games, the Broncos have steadily dropped its ERA from 5.33 to the current mark of 2.94.
The quintet of Eric Lex, Steven Wilson, Freddie Erlandson, Penn Murfee and Cade Negley, have given up a total of just five earned runs in 51 innings, combining for a 7-0 record and four saves. Lex and Wilson have yet to allow a run in 15 innings while striking out 26 batters.
Series Information
Games #12-13 on Thursday & Friday
Santa Clara, Calif. | Stephen Schott Stadium
Games #14-15 on Saturday & Sunday
Sacramento Calif. | John Smith Field
All-Time Series: Santa Clara leads 46-23, last played in 2008
Probable Starters
Thursday, March 8 • 6 p.m. PT at Stephen Schott Stadium
SCU RHP Penn Murfee (2-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Sacramento State RHP Austin Ragsdale (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Friday, March 9 • 6 p.m. PT at Stephen Schott Stadium
SCU RHP Steven Wilson (2-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Sacramento State RHP Scott Randall (2-1, 4.50 ERA)
Saturday, March 10 • 6 p.m. PT at John Smith Field
SCU RHP Alex Waldsmith (0-1, 3.97 ERA) vs. Sacramento State RHP Parker Brahms (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Sunday, March 11 • 1 p.m. PT at John Smith Field
SCU TBA vs. Sacramento State RHP Austin Root (1-1, 2.57 ERA)
GAMEDAY INFORMATION |
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| Tickets | Click here (for Thursday & Friday home games) |
| Live Stream / Video | |
| Internet Audio | |
| Live Stats | |
| Promotions | Click here (for Thursday & Friday home games) |
| Santa Clara | |
| Opposing Team | |
About Santa Clara
Solid Start
•Santa Clara is off to a 8-3 start, its best start since the 2012 when it went 13-3.
•Bronco pitching staff has a cumulative 2.94 ERA with 13 pitchers seeing action on the mound.
Streaks
•John Cresto hit a home run in four consecutive games, all solo shots, from Feb. 23 - 27. He hit one in each game of the Wake Forest series as well as in the midweek game against Nevada.
•Joe Becht has reached base safely in all 11 games this season.
•Becht and Jake Brodt each have hit in seven consecutive games.
•Closer Eric Lex recorded a save in three consecutive games from Feb. 27 - March 4.
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 11th in the nation in being hit by a pitch with 23. Florida A&M is first with 34.
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.
•Negley got his first win as a Bronco on March 4 vs Utah, pitching the last five innings in the 12th inning walk-off win.
•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.
•Freshman Cory Moore made his Bronco debut on March 4 in game one of the doubleheader against Utah.
About Sacramento State
•Sacramento State (5-7) split a Friday-Monday series against Milwaukee and Gonzaga, winning both its games against Milwaukee but falling to Gonzaga.
•The series against Santa Clara marks the third West Coast Conference team that the Hornets will play this season, having played San Francisco and losing both the home-and-home series games on Feb. 23 & 24. Sacramento State also played at Pacific in a midweek matchup on Feb. 27, winning 9-2.
•Prior to the season, Sac State, the 2017 Defending WAC Tournament Champions, were picked to finish third in the coaches' preseason poll.
•Sacramento State seniors Ian Dawkins (Outfield) and Vinny Esposito (First Base), and junior James Outman (Outfield), were all selected to the 2018 All-WAC Preseason team, as voted by the league's coaches.
•Dawkins is coming off a 2017 campaign in which he led the Hornets in multiple categories, including games (61), at bats (262), hits (89), runs (56), batting average (.340), on-base percentage (.401), and steals (15).
•Outman led Sacramento State with 16 doubles and 53 RBI and was tied for the team lead with 11 home runs while playing in 60 of the team's 61 games.
•Esposito hit 10 home runs, .300 batting average, 52 RBI, and .520 slugging percentage, all were second on the club.
•The Hornets also return 2017's Freshman of the Year, pitcher Parker Brahms, who went 8-4 in 17 games (16 starts) with a 3.13 ERA.
•Sacramento State has won 30 or more games in six straight seasons, the longest such streak since a string of nine straight 30-win seasons from 1985-1993. They are one of two California Division I teams to have at least 30 wins in each of the last six seasons and have the eighth most wins among all 24 California Division I schools over that time.
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.
