SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball begins a seven-game road trip Tuesday when it travels south to face the Cal Poly Mustangs for a 6 p.m. first pitch. The road tests include games against the 2014 College World Series regional finalist Mustangs, 2013 super regional participant Kansas State and round out with the team picked to in the West Coast Conference in the 2015 WCC preseason poll — LMU.
The Broncos enter the matchup at 6-5 overall after splitting a four-game series with the Eastern Michigan Eagles at Schott Stadium last weekend. The Mustangs are 2-6 and have not played since Tuesday, Feb. 27 because their weekend series at TCU was canceled due to snowfall in Fort Worth.
QUICK PITCHES
Game 12: Santa Clara (6-5, 1-3 Away) at Cal Poly (2-6, 1-3 Home)
Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2015 — 6 p.m. PST
Venue: Baggett Stadium — San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Video: http://www.bigwest.org/story.asp?story_id=16675
Live Stats: http://gopoly.com/sports/bsb/2014-15/boxscores/20150303_yy4m.xml
Series Record: 40-40-0 Tie
First Meeting: 1956
Last Meeting: March 4, 2014 — 8-0 Cal Poly win at Baggett Stadium
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Tuesday, March 3, 6 p.m. PST
SCU: LHP Kevin George (0-0, 3.68 ERA) vs. CP: RHP Andrew Bernstein (2-0, 1.46 ERA)
George has not made a start this season for the Broncos. He is tied with teammates Josh Inouye and Reece Karalus for most appearances on the team this season with six. The sophomore last pitched Sunday against Eastern Michigan, throwing 2.1 shutout innings and allowing just one hit in his appearance.
The Bronco sophomore made 16 appearances last season, including three midweek starts. He recorded a career high five strikeouts in 2.2 innings out of the bullpen March 4 at Cal Poly. George produced a scoreless streak of 13.1 innings across eight relief appearances — including six straight trips to the mound without giving up a run — March 4-25, 2014.
Bernstein has been Cal Poly's starting pitcher in the team's only two wins of the season. He picked up the winning decision Feb. 24 against Cal State Bakersfield by throwing 7.0 innings and allowing two earned runs on three hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. In his collegiate debut Feb. 17 against Fresno State, Bernstein threw 5.1 shutout innings, allowing two hits and a walk against four strikeouts.
BRONCOS
Santa Clara extended its winning streak to four games Friday night with an 8-2 win over Eastern Michigan to open a four-game series at Schott Stadium. The Broncos drove in six runs in the first two innings and starting pitcher Jake Steffens left the game one out shy of matching a career-best 8.0 innings to earn his second win in as many starts. Jose Vizcaino, Jr. went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored as part of a Bronco offense that put up multiple runs in all three of its scoring innings.
The Broncos broke open a 1-0 game with four runs in the seventh and held off a late rally to defeat Eastern Michigan 5-3 Saturday night. Starting pitcher Steven Wilson threw 7.0 shutout innings, allowing five hits and no walks with eight strikeouts to pick up his first winning decision of the season. With the victory, Santa Clara matched the longest winning streak during head coach Dan O'Brien's tenure at five games (2x, most recent 2012). Reece Karalus took the hill after the Broncos allowed three runs in the ninth to close out the game and earn his third save of the season.
Santa Clara lost a 10-inning game 5-4 and a seven-inning game 11-7 Sunday at Schott Stadium to split a four-game series with the EMU. The Broncos combined to leave 23 runners on base in 17 doubleheader innings while the Eagles posted a four-run inning three times as part of their victories.
Grant Meylan has drawn at least one walk in 10 of 11 games this season. He began the 2015 campaign with six walks in three games at Vanderbilt.
MUSTANGS
The Mustangs were snowed out last weekend in Fort Worth, and could not play any of their games against TCU.
Peter Van Gansen either leads or is tied for the team lead in several offensive categories, including batting average (.444), slugging percentage (.528), on-base percentage (.459), hits (16), doubles (3), and RBIs (17). Zack Zehner, who has also started all eight games for the Mustangs, leads the team with seven runs scored and is batting .323.
Both of Cal Poly's 2015 wins have been in games played on a Tuesday. The Mustangs defeated Fresno State on the road 7-6 Feb. 17 and Cal State Bakersfield 13-2 at home Feb. 24. Cal Poly was swept in its season-opening series at Baylor and lost all three games the following weekend at Grand Canyon.
THREE STRAIGHT WEEKEND DOUBLEHEADERS
The Broncos played their third straight doubleheader last weekend, after playing a two-game Saturday slate against Vanderbilt opening weekend and Cincinnati last weekend. Santa Clara is one of 10 NCAA DI teams to play in at least three straight doubleheader weekends to start the 2015 season.
The MEAC, Northeast Conference and Patriot League all feature weekend doubleheaders throughout conference play. The following are additional teams with significant consecutive doubleheaders in the 2015 season. All are to start the season unless otherwise noted:
Four Straight Weekends
Mississippi State
Saint Mary's (CA)
Three Straight Weekends
Cal State Northridge
Gonzaga
Michigan
Northwestern State
Oral Roberts
Purdue
Santa Clara
Seattle
Three Doubleheaders in Two Weekends
Wagner (Not to start season)
A FRESH LOOK
In its season-opening series at Vanderbilt, Santa Clara started four freshmen in the field — first baseman Jake Brodt, second baseman Joe Becht, third baseman Evan Haberle and right fielder Grant Meylan. The Broncos also started Edmonds Community College transfers TC Florentine in center field and Ryan Budnick at DH. Freshman pitchers Mitchell White and Josh Inouye also made their Santa Clara debuts opening weekend.
Eric Lex made his debut as the team's starting pitcher and Braden Frankfort made the start at catcher against UC Davis Feb. 17. Austin Fisher worked his way into the mix at second base during the Cincinnati series and now has seven starts on the year, while Alex Barden also made his Bronco debut out of the bullpen against the Bearcats.
HEAD COACHES
Dan O'Brien, the 36th head coach in school history with a program that dates back to 1883, enters his fourth season on the Mission campus in 2014-15. His record with the Broncos is 72-102 (.414 winning percentage) entering the weekend.
Bronco Baseball finished the 2014 season with a 26-30 overall record, including a 16-11 West Coast Conference mark good for a tie for fourth and an appearance in the WCC Baseball Championship. Head Coach Dan O'Brien's Broncos won seven WCC series overall, including five straight to close out the regular season, beginning with a three-game sweep of the San Diego Toreros at Fowler Park. The team that featured six all-WCC honorees won the most conference games for the program since 2004.
The team started the 2013 season with back-to-back wins over Seattle and wrapped up the year with a victory at LMU. The Broncos took down Stanford 3-0 on May 14. In O'Brien's first season in 2012, the Broncos started the year 5-0 with wins over Texas State, Wichita State, Louisiana-Lafayette and Cal Poly. Santa Clara would go on to win 26 games, the most since 2008.
Over eight seasons with his alma mater UCSD, O'Brien's Tritons qualified for five NCAA Division II West Regional showings, two NCAA National Championship Finals appearances and set a school record for wins four times. His accolades include:
2011 Daktronics West Region Coach of the Year
2011 NCBWA West Region Co-Coach of the Year
2011 CCAA Coach of the Year
2010 NCBWA National Coach of the Year
2010 ABCA/Rawlings West Region Coach of the Year
2010 NCBWA West Region Coach of the Year
2010 CCAA Coach of the Year
2010 FieldTurf Coach of the Year
2009 NCBWA National Coach of the Year
2009 ABCA/Rawlings West Region Coach of the Year
2009 CCAA Coach of the Year
Larry Lee is in his 13th season as head coach of Cal Poly baseball. The 1983 graduate of Pepperdine enters the weekend with a 398-290 (.578 winning percentage) record as the Mustang head coach. Cal Poly is the defending Big West Conference champions and has qualified for an NCAA Regional in each of the last two seasons. Lee previously served as head coach of Cuesta College, where he amassed 460 wins and nine Western State Conference titles in 16 seasons.
WCC PRESEASON POLLS/ALL-CONFERENCE
The West Coast Conference announced the 2015 Preseason Poll and All-WCC teams Wednesday, Feb. 11, and Bronco baseball junior closer Reece Karalus as well as junior shortstop Jose Vizcaino Jr. have been selected to the preseason all-conference team.
Vizcaino Jr. was one of two Broncos to appear in all 56 games of the season and his 54 starts were the most for Santa Clara in 2014. He played primarily at shortstop and led the team in batting average (.323), hits (65), triples (3, t-Greg Harisis), RBIs (28) and stolen bases (11). The La Jolla, Calif. native posted the team's longest hitting streak at 12 games and tied for the team lead with eight multi-RBI games.
Karalus led the team with a 2.25 ERA and 11 saves — the second-most in Bronco baseball single season history — in 2014. Primarily serving as the team's closer, he posted a 6-2 record, struck out 46 batters in 48.0 innings and held opponents to a team-low .206 batting average.
Santa Clara is picked to finish seventh in the 10-team WCC, receiving 38 points. LMU was picked to win the conference with 77 points and six first-place votes. Pepperdine (72 points, three first-place votes) and San Diego (63 points, one first-place vote) round out the WCC's top three. The preseason poll and all-conference teams are voted on solely by the league's 10 head coaches.
BRONCO ROSTER BREAKDOWN
Santa Clara welcomes a large group of newcomers once again in the 2015 season. After bringing in 12 freshmen a season ago, the Broncos added 12 freshmen newcomers alongside two junior college transfers in TC Florentine and Ryan Budnick. The rest of the roster features 13 freshmen (including Mitchell White coming off a redshirt season) 10 sophomores, nine juniors and only three seniors — TJ Braff, Evan Brisentine and CJ Jacobe.
GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK
The Broncos return three pitchers that each made at least nine starts last season in Jacob Steffens, Steven Wilson and Peter Hendron. Santa Clara's current staff accounted for 40 of last season's 56 starts — then-senior and Friday night pitcher DJ Zapata made the other 16.
Steffens split time as a starter and a relief pitcher in 2014, beginning the season in the four-man starting rotation and returning to the weekend rotation in late April. He went 2-5 with a 3.90 ERA between 16 appearances and nine starts on the season. The Phoenix, Ariz. native posted better than a 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio with 43 strikeouts and 13 walks in 64.2 innings. The Broncos won seven straight games when Steffens took the mound at the end of last year's regular season.
Wilson made 11 appearances and 10 starts, serving as Santa Clara's Sunday starter for most of the 2014 season. He went 1-3 with a 4.37 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 55.2 innings. Opponents hit .272 against the Littleton, Colo. native during his freshman season.
Hendron pitched in the starting rotation all of last season for the Broncos, serving at the team's Saturday starter. He tied for the team lead with six wins as he posted a 6-4 record with a 4.34 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 83.0 innings over 14 starts. He pitched at least 7.0 innings in four consecutive games April 5-26 and allowed just four earned runs over the span.
Santa Clara also returns its four most-used relievers in 2014 First Team All-WCC Selection Reece Karalus (6-2, 2.25 ERA, 34 appearances, 11 SV), sophomore Jason Seever (3-2, 3.12 ERA, 29 appearances), junior Nick Medeiros and sophomore Kevin George.
IN THE FIELD
Jose Vizcaino Jr. joins sophomore catcher Stevie Berman (.322) and senior left fielder T.J. Braff (.309) as returning starters in the field, all three of whom hit better than .300 a season ago. Berman finished fourth in the WCC with a .443 on-base percentage and was named to the conference's all-freshman team. Braff took over first base in April after an injury to senior Mac Hess, and hit safely in 16 of 20 starts while recording 20 RBIs during that span alongside a spotless 1.000 fielding percentage at first base.
Berman is currently day-to-day recovering from a shoulder injury. Junior Kyle Cortopassi manned the Bronco backstop for all 28 innings in Nashville on opening weekend, started all three games for Santa Clara against Cincinnati two weekends ago and caught three of Santa Clara's four games against Eastern Michigan last weekend.
In addition to a talented freshman class, the Broncos welcome junior center fielder TC Florentine into the mix. The former Edmonds Community College Triton took home 2014 NWAACC Player of the Year and Gold Glove honors last season for head coach Scott Kelly's team. Florentine's Edmonds teammate and utility man Ryan Budnick was named All-NWAACC First Team in 2014.
FRESHMAN CLASS RANKED 64TH BY PERFECT GAME USA
Perfect Game USA revealed its incoming class of 2014-15 College Recruit Rankings in Nov. 2014, and ranked Santa Clara's class 64th of 296 NCAA Division I teams.
The group of 12 Broncos is the highest-rated SCU class since Perfect Game began ranking recruiting classes in 2011. It is also the third recruiting class under current head coach Dan O'Brien.
"From the beginning, our mission in recruiting was to get the right players, not the best players," associate head coach/recruiting coordinator Gabe Ribas said. "That takes seeing a prospect beyond his playing ability and talking with parents, coaches, teachers, peers and guidance counselors to find out what we will get on a day-to-day basis. The biggest mistakes I have made in recruiting are based on solely judging a player on ability."
BRONCO SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
Santa Clara's non-conference schedule is packed with top opposition in 2014 College World Series Champion Vanderbilt on the road opening weekend, CWS participant TCU on the road April 17-19, super regional participant Stanford (home April 14, away May 5) and regional finalist Cal Poly (away March 3, home April 21). In its last series before West Coast Conference play, Santa Clara hits the road to face Big XII powerhouse Kansas State, who made it to a super regional with a school record 45-win season in 2013.
The Broncos are the only team in the country to play a weekend series against the top two teams in the Collegiate Baseball preseason rankings — No. 1 Vanderbilt and No. 2 TCU.
A LONG DAY AT THE YARD
Santa Clara and Vanderbilt were originally scheduled to play a Friday, Saturday, Sunday series at Hawkins Field on opening weekend. Due to cold weather conditions for the Sunday's forecast — with the high temperature expected to peak at 30 degrees — the finale was moved to Saturday and the teams played a doubleheader.
Total game time for the Valentine's Day twin bill spanned seven hours and 53 minutes. Temperatures peaked in the high 40s for the start of Game 1 and dropped to as low as the high 20s by the end of the night — with wind chills as low as 15 degrees.
The Broncos used eight different pitchers — including Kevin George and Reece Karalus in both games — while the Commodores used seven. All told, the 15 arms combined to throw 720 pitches. Between the two one-run victories, there were 19 runs scored on 42 hits with five errors.
SEE YOU LATER
Santa Clara hosts 27 games at Stephen Schott Stadium this season, only six of which are played between the 1st and 13th of any given month. 17 of the team's 27 road games are played between the 1st and 13th of any given month.
VIZCAINO, JR. EARNS SECOND STRAIGHT WCC RAWLINGS PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR; ALSO NAMED COLLEGE SPORTS MADNESS WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK — FEB. 23, 2015
Jose Vizcaino, Jr. has been named Rawlings West Coast Conference Baseball Player of the Week for the second straight time, announced by the conference Monday. The Broncos swept the Cincinnati Bearcats in the three-game set at Schott Stadium by a combined score of 29-15 to improve to 4-3 over the weekend.
Vizcaino, Jr. also garnered the season's first player of the week award last Monday for his efforts on the road against the Vanderbilt Commodores. Santa Clara players and pitchers have combined to win three of the season's first four player of the week awards for baseball; Vizcaino, Jr. and Steven Wilson swept the honors from opening weekend.
All of the shortstop's hits went for extra bases — two doubles and two home runs — for a 1.091 slugging percentage. He led the team in RBIs (6) and runs scored (6) while adding three walks for a .467 on-base percentage.
In his second at-bat of the series, the La Jolla, Calif. native hit a long home run to left to tie the game at 2-2 in the third inning. His RBI double in Game 1 of a Saturday doubleheader started off a four-run seventh to give the Broncos a 10-6 lead en route to a 10-8 victory. As the third batter in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader, he hit a two-run homer to left as part of a three-run inning.
Vizcaino, Jr. either scored or drove in the first run in six of Santa Clara's 12 scoring innings on the weekend. In addition to being the offensive catalyst, he recorded six putouts and five assists as part of a second-straight error free weekend in 27 innings at shortstop. He took part in all three of Santa Clara's double plays.
WILSON, VIZCAINO, JR., SWEEP WCC RAWLINGS PITCHER AND PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARDS — FEB. 16, 2015
After winning the first game of a Saturday doubleheader at defending national champion and unanimous preseason No. 1 Vanderbilt over the weekend, Santa Clara baseball has swept the first West Coast Conference Rawlings Player and Pitcher of the Week awards for the 2015 season. Redshirt sophomore starting pitcher Steven Wilson and junior shortstop Jose Vizcaino, Jr. garnered the honors — announced by the WCC Feb. 16 — for their performances in Nashville.
WCC RAWLINGS PITCHER OF THE WEEK - STEVEN WILSON - RS SO. - RHP
Steven Wilson set the tone for the Broncos in their Saturday victory over the Commodores. He tossed a quality start by throwing 6.0 innings in Game 1 of a doubleheader and allowing three earned runs while striking out five.
After surrendering two runs in the first, Wilson held the Commodores to a single run over the next five frames as the Broncos built a 5-3 lead through his departure after the sixth. He was the only pitcher in the series to throw more than five innings, and punctuated the effort by striking out the last batter he faced.
WCC RAWLINGS PLAYER OF THE WEEK - JOSE VIZCAINO, JR. - JR. - SS
Jose Vizcaino, Jr. set the table by hitting .500 and posting a .667 on-base percentage for the Broncos on the road at Vanderbilt. He went 5-for-10 with a double, an RBI, two runs scored and five walks — four of which he drew in Game 2 of a Saturday doubleheader. He also made seven putouts and assisted on six more as part of a 1.000 fielding percentage in 28 innings at shortstop.
The Broncos took Game 1 of that Saturday doubleheader 7-6, in which the Santa Clara junior went 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. With one out in the top of the ninth, the 2014 First Team All-WCC selection stole home to break a 6-6 tie en route to a Bronco victory.
Vizcaino, Jr. was also one of 14 Division I players selected to the CollegeBaseball360.com Weekly Honor Roll.
