Posted: Apr 03, 2019
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Coming off a 7-6 win in extra innings over Cal Poly on Tuesday, Santa Clara baseball kicks off the second half of its regular season to face Pepperdine in a weekend conference series.
At the midway point of the 52 game regular season, the Broncos hold a 5-21 record but have won two of the last five games including the last two midweek games.
The first pitch of the series between Broncos and the Waves is set for 3 p.m. on Friday and continues on Saturday at 1 p.m. and wraps up on Sunday at 1 p.m.
A nine-game homestand will follow the weekend including against two teams that qualified for the 2018 NCAA Tournament in Washington (April 15) and Gonzaga (April 18-20).
Santa Clara (5-21, 0-6 WCC) at Pepperdine (14-10, 5-4 WCC)
Game #27-29
Malibu, Calif. | Eddy D. Field Stadium
All-Time Series: Pepperdine leads the series 106-60-2 dating back to 1960.
PROBABLE STARTERS *Updated on April 4.
Friday, April 5 • 3 p.m. PT
SCU LHP Russell Grant II (0-3, 3.30) vs Pepperdine RHP Christian Stoutland (1-1, 2.42)
Saturday, April 6 • 1 p.m. PT
SCU RHP Keegan McCarville (3-4, 3.52) vs Pepperdine LHP Easton Lucas (2-2, 4.62)
Sunday, April 7 • 1 p.m. PT
SCU LHP Holden Bernhardt (0-3, 6.28) vs Pepperdine RHP Jonathan Pendergast (3-2, 4.24)
LAST TIME
On Tuesday night, Santa Clara won 7-6 in 10 innings over Cal Poly with the winning run coming courtesy of freshman Blake Faddoul's squeeze bunt to score fellow freshman Connor Henriques.
In the 10th, Connor Henriques led off the inning with a double before advancing to third on a wild pitch. Faddoul, who entered the game earlier as a defensive substitute, laid down a squeeze bunt on the first pitch he saw from Cal Poly closer Michael Clark.
Freshman Alex Reelfs came in the bottom half of the inning and gave up a hit and a walk but closed out the game to earn his first career save.
The game went to extra inning on a late rally by Cal Poly when they scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at 6-all.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE
The Waves are led by head coach Rick Hirtensteiner who is in his 21st year as a memeber of the Waves' coaching staff and his fourth as the program's head coach where he has compiled a 94-90 record thus far.
They are 14-10, 5-4 this season and are 7-2 at home. In conference action, the Waves took two out of three from USD and Gonzaga but lost the series against Pacific over the weekend.
Pepperdine is hitting .264 as a team and are led by Quincy McAfee (.356/.468/.511), Wyatt Young (.314/.351/.410) and Matt Kanfer (.297/.315/.436) who are top-3 on the team in hitting while starting all 24 games. Kanfer leads the team in RBIs with 21 and Billy Cook (.295/.382/.538) tops in home runs and slugging percentage.
Cooper Chandler (3-1, 3.07), Jonathan Pendergast (3-2, 4.24) and Easton Lucas (2-2, 4.62) have started in 19 games on the mound. The Waves have a 4.02 team ERA and the opposition have attempted only 12 stolen bases on the season.
Christian Stoutland (1-1, 2.42) and Michael Mahony (0-0, 6.35) each have three saves.
Defensively, the Waves have committed just 22 errors in 24 games.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION |
|
| Live Stream / Video | |
| Live Stats | |
| Santa Clara | |
| Visiting Team | |
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 Stanford (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 26 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 26 games. Freshman Matt Jew has started the second most games among newcomers with 24.
•Brigman and Connor Henriques are the only players who have started in the same position this season (26 games for Brigman at short & 21 games for Henriques at third).
•The freshmen have accounted for 50.3% the Bronco hit totals this season (94 of 187) with Jew leading the way with 22 hits.
•The newcomers have accounted for 78.2% of the innings pitched (184 2/3 innings out of 236) with McCarville leading the way with 38 1/3 innings.
•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 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.
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 homers.
•The pitching staff has given up 11 home runs through the first 26 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 (.570).
•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 allowed just one earned run in 20 innings while striking out 26.