Baseball Hosts Washington State for a Four-Game Series Beginning Thursday

Baseball Hosts Washington State for a Four-Game Series Beginning Thursday

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara baseball hosts Washington State for a four-game series at Stephen Schott Stadium beginning Thursday at 6 p.m.  The series continues on Friday at 6 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. first pitch on Saturday and wraps up on Sunday at Noon. 

Washington State (0-4) at Santa Clara (0-3)
Games #4-7
Santa Clara, Calif. | Stephen Schott Stadium
All-Time Series: Washington State leads 14-4.  The teams first played in 1966 and last played in 2018.  
 
Probable Starters 
Thursday, Feb. 21 • 6 p.m. PT 
WSU RHP Brandon White (0-0, 13.50 ERA) vs SCU RHP Travis Howard (0-0, 18.00 ERA)
 
Friday, Feb. 22 • 6 p.m. PT 
WSU LHP Ky Bush (0-0, 13.50 ERA) vs SCU LHP Brendan Ecklebarger (0-0, 4.15 ERA)
 
Saturday, Feb. 23 • 1 p.m. PT 
WSU RHP Dylan Steen (0-1, 14.73 ERA) vs SCU RHP Keegan McCarville (0-1, 8.31 ERA)
 
Sunday, Feb. 24 • Noon PT 
WSU RHP Hayden Rosenkrantz (0-1, 4.50 ERA) vs SCU TBA 

2019 Baseball Season Preview

LAST WEEKEND
Santa Clara and San José State were set to play a four-game season opening series last weekend with games at San Jose Municipal Stadium on Friday and Sunday sandwiching a doubleheader home opener at Stephen Schott Stadium on Saturday.  However, the Friday and Saturday games were postponed due to rain and shortened to a three-game series which were all played at Schott Stadium between Sunday and Monday.  Despite losing a home field game, the Spartans swept the Broncos. Offensively, the Broncos freshman designate hitter Matt Jew led the way going 6-for-12 with a pair of home runs and four RBIs and safely reached base in nine of 15 plate appearances.  On the mound, 11 pitchers made their Bronco debuts.  
 
ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
The Cougars are coming off a 16-33-1 record in 2018 including 8-21-1 in Pac-12 Conference under head coach Marty Lees who is entering his fourth year at the helm.  Washington State lost all four games of the season-opening series at Saint Mary's last weekend.
 

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

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Live Stream / Video

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Live Stats

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Promotions

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Visiting Team

Notes
Roster
Schedule

 
First Year Improvements Under Head Coach Rusty Filter
•Head coach Rusty Filter enters his second year with the Broncos, coming off a 26-26 season.  In his first season in 2018, the Broncos saw signifcant improvements in various categories from the previous season:
•Overall wins from 13 to 26 
•Average home attendance from 181 to 531
•Runs scored from 238 to 277
•Bases on balls from 155 to 190
•On-base percentage from .330 to .348
•Team ERA from 6.39 to 4.86
•Hits/extra-base hits allowed from 525/164 to 497/134
•Strikeouts from 373 to 401
•Fielding percentage from .958 to .968
 
Stephen Schott Stadium Improvements
Since the end of last season, Stephen Schott Stadium, the home of the Broncos, underwent the following field improvements:
•Resurfaced all the infield (dirt, grass, home plate).
•New astro turf with foul lines in the foul territory.
•New bullpens on both sides.
•New logo behind home plate.
 
2019 Schedule Quick Hits
•Prior to the season, the Broncos were scheduled to play 29 of its 53 regular-season games at Stephen Schott Stadium where they were 15-12 at home last season.  
•This past weekend's rain forced one game to be moved from San José State to Schott Stadium so the Broncos will now play 30 games at home.  
•The Feb. 15 game at San José State was postponed with no make up date scheduled.  
•Santa Clara plays three Pac-12 conference teams - vs Washington State (Feb. 21-24), vs. Washington (April 15) and vs. Stanford (April 30) plus at Stanford on May 7.  
•Games against three 2018 NCAA Tournament qualifiers are on the docket - vs. Washington (April 15), vs Gonzaga (April 18-20) and vs Stanford (April 30) and at at Sanford (May 7) with the Huskies advancing to the College World Series.  
•Longest homestead is nine games from April 9-23. 
•Longest stretch of road game is six games from March 15-24.  
 
Season Openers
•Santa Clara head coach Rusty Filter is 0-2 in season openers, losing to Boston College, 5-1, in his head coaching debut in 2018 and falling, 8-5, to San José State last Sunday.
 
New Look Roster
•Twenty-one newcomers dot the Santa Clara roster this season including 14 freshmen and seven transfers (excluding two player with roster exemptions who will not play in 2019 due to injuries - Matt Erickson and Alec Olmsted).
•The newcomers include 11 pitchers (eight right-handed and three left-handed), one catcher, six infielders and three outfielders. 
  
Newcomers in Action
•Eighteen newcomers made their Bronco debuts last weekend along with RHP Matthew McGarry who sat out last season after transferring from Vanderbilt.  
•Five newcomers were in the starting lineup in each game of the opening weekend series:
-Sunday's doubleheader game 1: DH Matt Jew, SS Dawson Brigman, 3B Matthew Calhoun, CF Blake Faddoul, SP Keegan McCarville). 
-Sunday's doubleheader game 2: DH Matt Jew, LF Ryan Jeffries, SS Dawson Brigman, 3B Connor Henriques, SP Brendan Ecklebarger
-Monday: 2B Matthew Calhoun, DH Matt Jew, SS Dawson Brigman, RF Blake Faddoul, 3B Connor Henriques
•Freshman Matt Jew went 6-for-12 in the San José State series including belting a solo home run in each game of the opening day doubleheader.  Jew safely reached base on nine of 15 plate appearances.  
 
Bronco MLB Draft Selections Under Rusty Filter
•Four players from last season's squad was selected in the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Players Draft:
•RHP Steven Wilson (8th round by the San Diego Padres)
•INF Jake Brodt (9th round by the Toronto Blue Jays)
•INF John Cresto (28th round by the Colorado Rockies)
•RHP Penn Murfee (33rd round by the Seattle Mariners)
•Newcomer Keegan McCarville, a right-handed pitcher, was selected in the 24th round by the Tampa Bay Rays but chose to attend Santa Clara.  
 
USA Baseball Coaching Assignment
This past summer, Filter served as the pitching coach for the inaugural USA Baseball 2018 16U National Team Development Program (NTDP) Stars team.  He was previously the pitching coach for USA Baseball's 18U National Team in 2017 as well as coaching at the 2015 and 2016 Tournament of Stars.  
 
Mark Marquess at Santa Clara
One of the premier coaches in college baseball history, member of American Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, and gold-medal winning Olympic baseball coach, Mark Marquess was hired as Special Assistant to Santa Clara Director of Athletics, Renee Baumgartner, last fall.  In this new role, Marquess, who served as Stanford head baseball coach for 41 years and is the fourth winningest coach in Division I history, is a mentor for all Santa Clara coaches and staff, serving on campus committees, supporting development, and working on special projects. 
 
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