Posted: Apr 08, 2021
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara baseball continues its six-game homestand welcoming crosstown rival San Francisco for a West Coast Conference series starting Friday. The first pitch for Friday's game is at 3 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. start on Saturday and noon start on Sunday from Stephen Schott Stadium.
Unfortunately, due to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases with the campus community we are still not able to allow fans into the facility at this time. The priority continues to be the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff so the university will continue to evaluate campus policies. While the state of California announced guidance for outdoor seated venues on April 1, the university reserves the right to be more cautious than public health guidance.
Santa Clara (11-15, 4-5) has won the last two West Coast Conference series taking two out of three on the road at Portland and also against BYU at home last weekend.
Meanwhile, San Francisco (11-15, 6-3) is riding a six-game winning streak. They won their midweek game against San Jose State on Tuesday that followed a weekend series sweep of LMU at home. The Dons are 4-10 on the road this season.
This weekend's series will close out a six-game homestand with the Broncos heading to Saint Mary's next weekend beginning an alternating WCC series on the road and at home the rest of the conference slate.
San Francisco (11-15, 6-3) vs Santa Clara (11-15, 4-5)
Games #27-29 • Stephen Schott Stadium
Friday, April 9 • 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 10 • 1 p.m.
Sunday, April 11 • Noon
All-Time Series: Santa Clara leads the series 164-86-1 dating back to 1931. The two schools last met on March 29-31, 2019 in Santa Clara where the Dons won all three games.
SANTA CLARA NOTES
• Santa Clara is 5-3 in the last eight games including a two-game road series split at No. 21 Oregon State (March 23-24), road conference series win at Portland (March 26-28) and home conference series win against BYU (April 1-3).
• The Broncos are in the midst of a six-game homestand, the longest of the season.
• The Broncos travel just once out of state this regular season (played at Oregon State, March 23-24 & at Portland, March 26-28).
• Santa Clara played eight games over a 10 day stretch to finish the month of March where they went 3-5. They lost all three games at home in the WCC opening series against Gonzaga (March 19-21) before winning three of five on the trip to the state of Oregon.
• Santa Clara is averaging 5.2 runs per game with a .249 batting average. The team is giving up 5.2 runs a game with a 4.26 ERA allowing an opponent batting average of .228
• Nine different hurlers have started in the first 26 games led by Russell Grant and Freddie Erlandson with seven each.
• Four players have started in all 26 games: Coleman Brigman (CF), Dawson Brigman (2B), Jason Dicochea (SS) and Jake MacNichols (nine games each at catcher and at DH, eight at first base).
• A Brigman brother (Coleman or Dawson) has batted leadoff in 42-straight games since the start of the 2020 season. Mike Bowes is the only other non-Brigman that has batted leadoff when he was the opening day leadoff batter in 2020. Coleman Brigman batted leadoff the rest of the 2020 season and has continued it this season with the exception of the Feb. 26 game against Stanford when older brother Dawson Brigman batted leadoff.
• Four of the eight home runs hit by Jake MacNichols this season have come in the first inning including three-run homers in back-to-back opening innings against UC San Diego (March 13 & 14). The non-first inning home runs came against Sacramento State (March 4) in the seventh, against Gonzaga (March 20) in the eighth against Oregon State (March 23) in the fourth and against Portland (March 26) in the ninth.
• The Bernhardt twins picked up the win and the save in the series clinching win over Portland on March 28. RHP Locke Bernhardt came in relief for the win (3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 6 K) and LHP Holden Bernhardt (2 IP, 1 H, 3 K) closed out the game. It was the first time the brothers earned a win and picked up a save in the same game.
• National and Conference Rankings
-Jake MacNichols leads the conference in home runs with eight, a mark that's good for 34th nationally.
-Cole Kitchen leads the conference with five wins and is tied for fourth nationally.
-Austin Reyes is tied for eighth nationally (and tied for first in conference) in sacrifice flies with four.
-Cole Kitchen is first in the conference and 15th nationally with 4.40 hits allowed per nine innings.
-Travis Howard is tied for second in the conference with four saves and tied for 36th nationally.
-With three shutouts on the season, the Bronco pitching staff is tied for third in the conference.
ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco (11-15, 6-3), led by head coach Nino Giarratano in his 23rd season, enters the weekend on a six-game winning streak, five of those coming in West Coast Conference play.
The Dons beat San Jose State 7-1 on Tuesday night after sweeping LMU over the weekend at home. They also won the last two games of the series against BYU the week before on the road.
USF played a challenging nonconference schedule, opening the season at No. 2 UCLA where they won two out of three games. They also played Cal, Stanford, Fresno State and No. 24 UC Santa Barbara before starting WCC action.
San Francisco is averaging 5.7 runs per game and giving up 6.6 per game.
Offensively, USF is led by Jacob Munoz who leads the team in batting average (.321), home runs (six) and RBIs (25). The team batting average is .247
Darius Foster is second on the team with a .318 BA and leads the team in stolen bases with 13 in 14 attempts. He swiped four bases in Tuesday's game against San Jose State. As a team, USF has 37 stolen bases in 47 bases but opponents have stolen 40 bases (in 49 attempts).
Nineteen pitchers have seen action this season with three of them appearing in 10 or more games led by Jesse Barron (1-2, 3.79 ERA) with 13. Barron has a team-high four saves.
Landen Bourassa (2-2, 4.91) and former Bronco Grant Nechak (0-1, 5.88) has started a team-high seven times on the bump. The Dons have a 5.69 team ERA and opponents have hit .268.
Defensively, USF has committed 28 errors on the season and has a .970 fielding percentage.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION |
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| Live Stream / Video |
Friday (pregame interview with RHP Travis Howard starting at 2:45 p.m.) Saturday (pregame interview with INF Ryan McCarthy starting at 12:45 p.m.) Sunday (pregame interview with RHP Alex Waldsmith starting at 11:45 a.m.) |
| Live Stats | |
| Santa Clara | |
| San Francisco | |
