Posted: Apr 01, 2019
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara plays at Cal Poly on Tuesday in the midway game of the 2019 regular season. The game against the Mustangs at 6 p.m. will be the 26th game this season and the Broncos are currently scheduled to play 52 regular season games after its game at UC Davis was postponed with no make up date scheduled.
SCU and Cal Poly will square off again in the backend of the home-and-home series on April 23 at Schott Stadium.
Santa Clara (4-21) at Cal Poly (12-13)
Game #26
San Luis Obispo, Calif. | Baggett Stadium
All-Time Series: The series is tied at 44-44 dating back to 1956.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Tuesday, April 2 • 6 p.m. PT
SCU TBA vs Cal Poly RHP Craig Colen (First appearance)
LAST TIME
Santa Clara dropped all three games of the weekend series against San Francisco in the West Coast Conference home opener.
The Broncos lost the Friday night game, 10-0. SCU starter Keegan McCarville and reliever Travis Howard held the Dons to three runs over the first six frames with McCarville striking out a career-high nine batters, but USF scored seven runs in the final three innings.
On Saturday, Santa Clara brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth after rallying from five runs down but its comeback bid fell just short losing 6-4.
In the series finale on Sunday, the pitching staff gave up only two earned runs and Jake MacNichols hit his team-high seventh homer of the season, but the Broncos were undone by some defensive miscues and were defeated, 4-1.
Jason Dicochea picked up a hit in each of the first two games of the series to extend his hit streak and bases reached streak to 12 and 16 games, respectively, but the streaks ended on Sunday.
MacNichols went 4-for-9 in the series with three extra base hits (a double, a triple and a home run) while playing first, catching and serving as the designated hitter.
ABOUT CAL POLY
The Mustangs are led by head coach Larry Lee in his 17th year at Cal Poly where they are 12-13 this season including 10-5 at home.
Lee's record at Cal Poly stands at 525-404-2 and 985-645-5 overall having previously coached at Cuesta College.
Cal Poly is hitting .249 as a team and are led by Tate Samuelson who is batting .322 and has hit the lone home run for the Mustangs this season. Bradlee Beesley leads the team in RBIs with 17.
Right-hander Craig Colen will be on the mound to start the game on Tuesday as he will be making his first appearance of the season. Cal Poly has a 3.76 team ERA holding the opposition to a .240 batting average.
Michael Clark is the closer with six saves to go along with a 1-1 record and 2.49 ERA in 15 appearances.
Defensively, the Mustangs have committed 41 errors in 25 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 25 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 25 games. Freshman Matt Jew has started the second most games among newcomers with 23.
•Brigman and Connor Henriques are the only players who have started in the same position this season (25 games for Brigman at short & 20 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 (89 of 178) with Jew leading the way with 21 hits.
•The newcomers have accounted for 78.0% of the innings pitched (176 1/3 innings out of 226) with McCarville leading the way with 36 2/3 innings.
HOME RUNS
•The Broncos have hit 17 home runs collectively by six different players (seven by MacNichols, four by Jew and three 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).
•Fourteen of the 17 home runs this season have been solo shots.
•The pitching staff has given up 10 home runs through the first 25 games including just two in the first 18 games.
STREAKS
•Jason Dicochea had a 12-game hitting streak and reached base safely in the 16 games until it was snapped against San Francisco on Sunday.
•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.
•Jake MacNichols is third in the WCC with seven home runs & fifth in slugging percentage (.593).
•Matthew Calhoun and Connor Henriques are sixth 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.