Posted: Feb 25, 2020
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara baseball is in the midst of a season long stretch of playing eight games away from home and 11 of the first 13 games to start the 2020 season. The Broncos are 6-3 thus far (4-3 on the road, 2-0 at home) on the season with two wins over top-25 teams, beating No. 25 Stanford 3-2 at home on Feb. 18 and handing No. 5 Georgia their first loss of the season, 8-4, in the series finale last Sunday.
SCU is off to a strong start with a mix of timely hitting, stellar pitching by committee and solid defense.
Offensively, the Broncos are averaging 6.2 runs per game, hitting .260 while drawing a total of 5.4 walks/hit by pitches per game. Ryan McCarthy and Jason Dicochea leads the team with a .342 batting average. Jake MacNichols has four of the team's 10 home runs to lead the team along with 12 RBIs.
On the mound, sixteen pitchers have seen action, holding the opposition to a .214 batting average while posting a 3.42 ERA. Six different hurlers have started in the first nine games with Matthew McGarry having the longest outing to start the game with five innings (against Georgia on Feb. 21). Travis Howard threw a Bronco pitching staff high 5.2 innings in relief against Georgia on Feb. 22.
Howard leads the staff with 16 strikeouts in 10.2 innings and has not allowed a walk.
Defensively, the Broncos have committed six errors on the season for a .983 fielding percentage, including just two miscues in the last seven games.
Santa Clara (6-3) at Sacramento State (5-2)
Games #10-13
Sacramento, Calif. | John Smith Field
All-Time Series: Santa Clara leads the series 50-24 dating back to 1959.
Game Times
Thursday, Feb. 27 • 5 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 28 • 5 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 29 • 2 p.m.
Sunday, March 1 • 1 p.m.
ABOUT SACRAMENTO STATE
Head coach Reggie Christiansen is in his 10th year at the helm at Sacramento State with a 294-250 record (401-391 overall) entering the season.
This season the Hornets are 5-2, coming off a four-game series sweep of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, having played all their games at home. In fact, Sac State will play their first 12 games at home to start the season.
Christiansen welcomes back 24 letterwinners including eight starters from a team that finished 40-25 in 2019 to win the Western Athletic Conference tournament and advance to the NCAA tournament for the third time in the last six seasons.
The weekend starters of Parker Brahms, Scott Randall and Travis Adams have each started two games and allowed only five runs over 33.2 innings while striking out 35 and walking one batter. The entire Hornets pitching staff has issued just seven walks in 65 innings and boasts a 1.52 ERA with a .182 opposing batting average.
Earlier in the week, Brahms was named WAC Pitcher of the Week, striking out 10 over six scoreless innings over UW-Milwaukee and in the process became Sacramento State's all-tine strikeout leader with 280.
The Hornets are hitting .211 with Keith Torres (.400) and Matt Smith (.360) leading the way. Smith leads the team with two home runs and seven RBIs.
MACNICHOLS CLIMBING UP THE HOME RUN LIST
With four home runs in the first nine games to start the season, MacNichols, now has 34 career home runs and is just four short of tying Kevin Dunton's career school record.
Last season, he slugged 16 homers for the third most home runs in a single season in Santa Clara history along with Ernie Fazio (1962), Troy Buckley (1988) and Paul Chiaffredo (1997).
His 34 career dingers currently puts him third all-time on the Broncos career record list behind Buckley (1987-89) who had 35 and Dunton (1982-85) who had 38.
MacNichols went yard six times during his freshman season and eight in his sophomore campaign.
The senior utility player transitioned to left field after primarily playing at first last yer and behind the dish in his first two seasons. The transition will allow the Broncos to have another big bat in Ryan McCarthy to be in the lineup at the same time to help off set the loss of Andre Nnebe, who was selected in the 2019 MLB First-Year Players Draft.
FAST START
• Santa Clara's 5-0 start to the 2020 campaign was their best start since 2012.
• Their current 6-3 start is the best since 2018, during Filter's first season when they went 11-3.
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