Posted: May 09, 2018
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara baseball welcomes Loyola Marymount (21-24, 12-9 WCC) this weekend for the final home series of the season. Prior to the series finale on Sunday, 13 Bronco seniors - Alex Barden, Joe Becht, Jake Brodt, Lucas Eliason, Austin Fisher, Anthony Geremia, Evan Haberle, Niko Holm, Eric Lex, Grant Meylan, Penn Murfee, Matt Smithwick and Steven Wilson - will be recognized in a pregame ceremony starting at 11:35 a.m. PT. First pitch is at 12:05 p.m. PT.
This Week in Bronco Baseball
•Santa Clara lost 9-0 to No. 2 Stanford (38-6) on Tuesday night at Sunken Diamond in the final midweek game of the season for the Broncos. Four Stanford pitchers combined for the shutout with Beau Branton, Andrew Daschbach and Will Matthiessen supplying the offense for the Cardinal. The trio combined to hit 6-for-11 and drove in eight of the nine runs for the second ranked team in the nation. Santa Clara (22-24) had opportunities to score early, putting multiple runners on base in each of the first three innings and four of the first five, but could not push a run across against Stanford starter Brendan Beck who remained undefeated on the season.
•Santa Clara (22-24, 8-13 WCC) is in ninth place in the WCC standings with two more conference series to play.
•LMU (21-24, 12-9 WCC) sits in fifth place in the conference standings, two games behind in the loss column to first place Pepperdine. LMU is 4-6 in the last 10 games including losing a pair of conference series against Portland and Gonzaga. LMU's last conference series win came against San Francisco, when it swept the Dons (April 13-15).
•Santa Clara is 12-12 at home and LMU is 9-14 on the road this season.
•LMU is batting .253 as a team. Nick Sogard leads the team with a .342 batting average, .459 on-base percentage and is second in steals with 10. Trevin Esquerra tops the team in home runs with five with Jamey Smart leading in RBIs with 37.
•LMU's pitching staff has a 4.99 ERA with nine different pitchers posting at least a win. Friday's starter Codie Paiva lead the team in wins with five along with Josh Agnew. Among Paiva's wins in a complete game shutout against Hawaii on March 1.
Last Week in Bronco Baseball
• Santa Clara played all its games on the road, winning three of four games last week for the second consecutive week including the midweek game against Cal Poly 4-3 and taking two out of three against Pacific in a WCC matchup.
• With the win against the Mustangs, the Broncos swept the season series winning both games of the home-and-home series. Starting pitcher Michael Praszker threw a career-high six innings to pick up the win, giving up four hits, one run, striking out five and did not issue a walk.
• Against the Tigers, the Broncos lost the series opener 7-3 but took the next two games. In Saturday's contest, Santa Clara put up four runs each in the first two frames en route to a 12-4 win to even the series. And in Sunday's rubber match, the Broncos scored three in the top of the ninth, including a Jake Brodt RBI single to break a 6-6 deadlock, to win 9-6.
Series Information
Games #47-49
Santa Clara, Calif. | Stephen Schott Stadium
All-Time Series: Santa Clara leads 92-85. The teams first played in 1932 and last played in 2017.
Probable Starters
Friday, May 11 • 6 p.m. PT
SCU TBA vs. LMU RHP Codie Paiva (5-4, 3.80 ERA)
Saturday, May 12 • 1 p.m. PT
SCU TBA vs. LMU RHP Tyler Cohen (1-2, 2.20 ERA)
Sunday, May 13 • Noon PT
SCU TBA vs. LMU TBA
GAMEDAY INFORMATION |
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| Tickets | |
| Live Stream / Video |
Tune in 10 minutes before the first pitch to listen to Lucas Eliason in the pregame interview on Saturday and Austin Fisher on Sunday. |
| Live Stats | |
| Promotions | |
| Santa Clara | |
| Opposing Team |
Notes |
ABOUT SANTA CLARA
Marked Improvement
•Forty-six games into the 52 game season, the Broncos have improved by nine games in the overall win column (four games in the home win column and five games in the road win column) thus far.
Schedule
•At this time there is no make-up game scheduled for the UC Davis game which was postponed back on March 13.
•The game at Stanford last Tuesday marked the last of eight consecutive road contests where the Broncos went 5-3. And it was the 12th road game in the last 13 games in which Santa Clara went 7-6.
Among League Leaders
•Santa Clara leads the WCC in: home runs (43), HBP (76), scoring (5.5 runs).
•Broncos are second in the WCC in: runs with 255 (behind San Diego 261), and stolen bases with 40 (behind San Francisco 52)
•Jake Brodt leads the WCC in home runs with 13 and John Cresto is second with nine.
•Brodt is second in the WCC in RBIs with 49 behind Pepperdine's Jordan Qsar (51).
•Brodt is second in the conference in slugging percentage at .548 behind BYU's Brock Hale (.553).
Solid Start
•Santa Clara got off to a 14-5 start, its best start since the 2012 season when it went 13-3.
•The Broncos won four consecutive series (2-1 series win over Wake Forest Feb.23-25; 3-0 sweep over Utah March 2-4; 3-1 series win over Sacramento State March 8-11; and 2-1 series win over San Diego (March 16-18) before losing the series against Saint Mary's (March 23-25).
Non-Conference Wins
•Among WCC schools, Santa Clara has the second most non-conference wins this season with 14 behind Saint Mary's who have won 16.
Tale of Three Seasons?
•After starting the season 14-5 by winning four straight series and seven games in a row, the Broncos slumped winning just two out of the next 18 games including losing nine in a row. In the last nine games, Santa Clara has won six, including consecutive conferences series wins on the road at San Francisco and at Pacifc as well as sweeping the home-and-home series against Cal Poly.
Extra Inning Magic
•The Broncos are 6-1 in extra inning games this season with three of them coming off in walk-off fashion (Feb. 24 vs Wake Forest in 14 innings; March 4 vs Utah in 12 innings; March 8 vs Sacramento State in 10 innings, March 10 at Sacramento State in 10 innings). It won its first four extra-inning games before losing to BYU on game one of the double header on April 6.
Santa Clara has won the last two extra inning games coming on back-to-back games at San Francisco (April 27 & 28).
Streaks
•Jason Dicochea has safely reached base in 25 consecutive games (since March 27 vs Nevada).
•Joe Becht has safely reached base in 44 of 46 games this season.
His 36 consecutive games bases reached streak came to an end against Washington State on April 22, having safely reached base in the first 36 games of the season. (Got a hit in 25 games, drew a walk in 10 games he did not get a hit in and was hit by a pitch in the other game he did not get a hit or walk). The only other game Becht failed to reach base safely was against Stanford on May 8.
•Grant Meylan's 20 consecutive games bases reached streak came to an end against Pepperdine on April 13.
•Santa Clara had won six consecutive one-run games before losing to Saint Mary's, 6-5, on March 24. The Broncos are now 9-5 in one-run games.
•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.
•Closer Eric Lex recorded a save in three consecutive games from Feb. 27 - March 4.
•The Broncos had a season-high seven game win streak from Feb. 27 - March 10 and a nine game losing streak from March 31 - April 15.
Captains
•Sixth-year senior right-handed pitcher Steven Wilson and senior first baseman Jake Brodt were named captains for the 2018 Santa Clara squad.
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.
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.
In Season Accolades
•Jake Brodt has twice been named the WCC Player of the Week this season on Feb. 19 after his two grand slam in an inning game and a month later on March 19 after going 5-for-14 with three doubles, two home runs and drove in seven runs against San Diego while playing first and third base.
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 16th in the nation (out of 297) in being hit by a pitch with 76. New Mexico State is first with 101.
•Jason Dicochea leads the team in HBP with 11 and three Broncos - Matt Smithwick Grant Meylan, and Niko Holm- are second on the team in HBPs with nine each.
Coaching Staff
•Head coach Rusty Filter is in his first season with Santa Clara. Filter picked up his first career head coaching win on Feb. 17 against Boston College.
oEach member of his coaching staff is in their first season with Santa Clara and was selected in the MLB draft.
oFilter himself was selected in the 35th round of the 1990 MLB draft by the Toronto Blue Jays as a pitcher.
oFilter will make the mound visits and signal pitching changes. Filter coached third for two games this season (vs Pepperdine on April 13 & 14)
•Assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Jon Karcich coached alongside Filter at Stanford from 2015 – 17.
oKarcich returns to his alma mater where he played for the Broncos from 2007 – 09 where he was a two-time All-West Coast Conference honoree.
oKarcich was selected in the seventh round of the 2009 MLB draft by the California Angels as an infielder.
oKarcich coaches the infielders and serves as the bench coach but will occasionally coach first.
•Assistant coach BK Santy, a former catcher at Washington, coaches the catchers and outfielders as well as serving as the third base coach.
oSanty was selected in the 30th round of the 2012 MLB draft by the Minnesota Twins as a catcher.
•Assistant coach Greg Gonzalez, a former pitcher at Fresno State, serves as the first base coach and an occasional bench coach.
oGonzalez was selected in the 15th round of the 2011 MLB draft by the San Diego Padres as a pitcher.
New for 2018 - Pre & Postgame Interviews At Home Contests
•Listen to pregame interviews of Bronco coaches and players before every home game this year on TheW.tv live stream with Bronco play-by-play announcer David Gentile. Interviewees are announced on Bronco Baseball social media platforms (see footer) and on the series preview on SantaClaraBroncos.com Tune in approximately 10 minutes prior to the first pitch.
•After each home win, postgame player interviews are live streamed also on TheW.tv with Gentile.
