Posted: Mar 27, 2019
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Coming off a 9-0 win over UC Davis on Tuesday, Santa Clara baseball plays its first West Coast Conference series at home this weekend when it hosts crosstown rival San Francisco beginning Friday at 6 p.m. The series contiues on Saturday at 1 p.m. and wraps up on Sunday at Noon.
The Broncos opened its conference season back on March 15-17 when it played LMU on the road which the Lions won all three games.
San Francisco (13-11, 3-3) at Santa Clara (4-18, 0-3)
Game #23-25
Santa Clara, Calif. | Stephen Schott Stadium
All-Time Series: The Broncos lead the series 164-83-1 dating back to 1931.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday, March 29 • 6 p.m. PT
USF RHP Riley Ornido (4-2, 1.18) vs SCU TBA
Saturday, March 30 • 1 p.m. PT
USF LHP Scott Parker (2-2, 4.68) vs SCU TBA
Sunday, March 31 • Noon PT
USF RHP Grant Nechak (0-0, 0.00) vs SCU TBA
LAST TIME
Santa Clara won its midweek game against UC Davis, 9-0 on Tuesday when five pitchers combined for a one-hit shutout and the offense pounded out 13 base knocks including 8-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Starter Locke Bernhardt tossed five hitless innings and Travis Howard, Julian Tristan, Ethan Heinrich and Eric Lex each pitched a scoreless inning apiece to hold the Aggies to just one hit while fanning nine.
Offensively, nine Bronco hitters recorded a hit and six drove in runs led by freshman Cam Allie's career-high three RBIs.
ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO
The Dons are led by head coach Nino Giarratano in his 21st season at the Hilltop where they are 13-11 this season. San Francisco enters the third conference series of the season this weekend with a 3-3 record. In conference games, the USF went 2-1 in the series against Portland (March 15-17) at home and were 1-2 at San Diego last weekend (March 22-24).
While the Dons boast a gaudy 10-1 record at home, they are 3-10 away from home including 2-8 in true road games.
USF is hitting .250 led by Jack Winkler (.348, 3 HR, 18 RBI) and Jonathan Allen (.303, 8 HR, 28 RBI). Allen's eight homers leads the league. The two players also tops the team in on-base percentage (.450 for Winkler and .427 for Allen).
On the hill, Riley Ornido (4-2, 1.18 ERA), Scott Parker (2-2, 4.68) and Grant Young (1-2, 7.20) have each started five or more games. Julian Washburn leads the team with five wins (5-0, 4.18) in 10 appearances. Joey Steele has six saves on the season striking out 23 in 16 1/3 innings and Alex Pham has two saves while leading the team with 35 strikeouts in 29 innings.
The San Francisco staff has a 4.76 ERA with opponents batting .263.
Defensively, the Dons have committed 23 errors in 24 games.
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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.
•Opening day weekend's rain forced one game to be moved from San José State to Schott Stadium and added an extra home game against Omaha so the Broncos are now scheduled to play 31 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.
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 on opening weekend along with RHP Matthew McGarry who sat out last season after transferring from Vanderbilt.
•In all, 19 newcomers have seen action this season, the last one being John Hanley, who made his Bronco debut as a pinch-hitter against LMU (March 17).
•At least three newcomers have been in the starting lineup in each of the 22 games this season.
-A season-high seven freshmen started on the field against UC Davis (March 26).
•Freshmen Dawson Brigman has started in the each of the first 22 games. Freshman Matt Jew has started the second most games among newcomers with 20.
•Brigman and Connor Henriques are the only players who have started in the same position this season (22 games for Brigman at short & 17 games for Henriques at third).
•Jew went 6-for-12 in the season opening series against San José State belting a solo home run in each game of the opening day doubleheader. Jew safely reached base on nine of 15 plate appearances.
•Brigman (vs. SJSU, Feb. 17), Jew (vs. SJSU, Feb. 17) and fellow freshman Blake Faddoul (vs. Washington State, Feb. 24) each have gone yard.
•Junior college transfers Brendan Ecklebarger (Feb. 22) and Keegan McCarville (Feb. 23) picked up their first career wins against Washington State.
•Junior college transfer Ethan Heinrich earned his first career save against Washington State (Feb. 23).
•Twin brothers Locke Bernhardt and Holden Bernhardt made their Bronco debuts in, appropriately, a twin bill against San José State on opening day (Feb. 16).
•Holden Bernhardt made his first start on the mound on Sunday against CSUN (March 24) and Locke Bernhardt followed suit making his first start on Tuesday against UC Davis (March 26) where tossed five hitless innings to earn his first win.
•Prior to his last start at CSUN on March 22, McCarville had allowed just three runs in his last four starts spanning 24 1/3 innings, striking out 21 and walking just five. His record was 2-1 in the span.
•The freshmen have accounted for half the Bronco hit totals this season (81 of 162) with Allie and Jew leading the way with 19 hits each.
•The newcomers have accounted for 77.4% of the innings pitched (154 1/3 innings out of 199) with McCarville leading the way with 32 1/3 innings.
HOME RUNS
•The Broncos have hit 15 home runs collectively by six different players (six by MacNichols, three each by Jew and Jason Dicochea plus one each by Brigman, Faddoul and Nnebe).
•The first 12 home runs hit by the Broncos were all solo shots until Jake MacNichols' 3-run shot against LMU (March 16).
•Thirteen of the 15 home runs this season have been solo shots.
•The pitching staff has given up six home runs through the first 21 games including just two in the first 18 games.
STREAKS
•Junior Jason Dicochea has a 10-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in the last 14 games.
•Junior Jake MacNichols hit a home run in three consecutive games (Feb. 23 - March 1).
NOTABLE
•Brendan Buckley threw a career-high 5 1/3 innings in relief against LMU (March 16) after tossing five innings in his previous appearance vs Omaha (March 9). Coming off an injury last season, the redshirt sophomore has allowed just two earned runs in 18 1/3 innings this season. His 0.98 ERA ranks 33rd in the nation.
•Jake MacNichols is second in the WCC with six home runs.
•Matthew Calhoun and Connor Henriques are third in the league lead in sacrifice bunts with five.
•Bronco closers redshirt senior Eric Lex and junior Ethan Heinrich have combined for three saves and have not allowed an earned run in 16 1/3 innings while striking out 23.
SCHEDULE
The 2019 schedule features games against three teams (Washington, Gonzaga and Stanford) that qualified for the 2018 NCAA Baseball Tournament with the Huskies advancing to the College World Series. Among the 53 regular-season games, 29 will be played at home in Stephen Schott Stadium and 24 on the road. 2019 Schedule Release. *Note, the schedule has undergone some undates since the release. For the latest, check the schedule page.
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 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.
