Baseball Travels to Face No. 5 Georgia This Weekend

Baseball Travels to Face No. 5 Georgia This Weekend

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - On the heels of a 3-2 victory over No. 25 Stanford on Tuesday night, Santa Clara baseball embarks on a season-long stretch of eight games away from home starting this Friday against another nationally ranked opponent, No. 5 Georgia, in the first ever meeting between the schools. 

The Broncos followed their season opening four game series sweep against San Jose State last weekend with a win over the Cardinal on Tuesday night to move to a perfect 5-0 on the season.  The 5-0 start is the best since 2012 when the Broncos won their first five.  
 
In the five games, the Broncos are outscoring the opponents 43-12, winning with impressive offensive outbursts, timely hitting as well as with stellar pitching.  
 
Santa Clara pounded out 55 hits and 40 runs over four games against SJSU as Jake MacNichols led the offensive charge hammering four home runs and driving in 11 runs to garner National and West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors. 
 
Against Stanford, six pitchers held the Cardinal to just three hits and two runs.  So far this season, 15 pitchers have seen action on the mound with none pitching more than four innings.  The staff has combined to allow just 12 runs (10 earned) in 45 innings while striking out 53 and issuing only 13 walks.  The opponents are batting just .181
 
Defensively, the Broncos have not committed an error the last three games.  
 
Santa Clara (5-0) at No. 5 Georgia (4-0) 
Game #6
Athens, Ga. | Foley Field
All-Time Series:  First meeting between the two schools.  
 
PROBABLE STARTERS (to be updated as information becomes available)
Friday, Feb. 21 • Noon PT (Note: game time moved up from 2 p.m. PT).  
Santa Clara TBA vs Georgia RHP Emerson Hancock (0-0, 13.50)
 
Saturday, Feb. 22 • 10 a.m. PT  (Doubleheader 1)
Santa Clara TBA vs Georgia RHP Cole Wilcox (1-0, 1.80)
 
Saturday, Feb. 22 •  (Doubleheader 2)
Santa Clara TBA vs Georgia TBA
 
Sunday, Feb. 23 • 10 a.m. PT  
Santa Clara TBA vs Georgia TBA
 
ABOUT GEORGIA
Georgia, led by head coach Scott Stricklin who enters his seventh year at the helm, welcomes back 20 lettermen and 18 newcomers.  The Bulldogs were a consensus top 10 team in the preseason rankings and currently sits at No. 5 in the latest D1Baseball.com rankings starting the year 4-0 with a sweep of Richmond and a midweek win over Kennesaw State.  
 
Last season, Georgia finished 46-17 including 28-3 at home during the regular season. 
 
The Bulldogs boast a pair of projected Major League Baseball first round draft picks in the rotation in junior RHP Emerson Hancock and sophomore RHP Cole Wilcox plus junior LHP C.J. Smith (3-3, 4.30 ERA).  Hancock is a consensus preseason All-American while Wilcox was named Third-Team by Baseball America. 
 
Offensively, the Bulldogs averaged 6.4 runs a game last season batting .272 with 75 homers.  
 
Defensively, Georgia had a .980 fielding percentage.  
 
2020 SEASON PREVIEW
 
MACNICHOLS CLIMBING UP THE HOME RUN LIST
With four home runs in five 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. 
 

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

Live Stream / Video

Friday

Saturday (DH1)

Saturday (DH2)

Sunday

Live Stats

Friday

Saturday (DH1)

Saturday (DH2)

Sunday

Santa Clara

Notes

Georgia

Notes
Roster
Schedule

 
SCHEDULE
The 2020 schedule features games against four teams (No. 17 Stanford, No. 5 Georgia, No. 9 Arizona State and LMU) that qualified for the 2019 NCAA Baseball.  Among the 55 regular-season games, 27 will be played at home in Stephen Schott Stadium and 28 on the road.  2020 schedule release.  
 
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