SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball welcomes crosstown rival San Jose State to Schott Stadium for the first of two midweek contests between the Broncos and Spartans this season. The Broncos are coming off a four-game stretch that featured a shutout win of No. 26 Nevada at Schott Stadium ahead of a three-game sweep at the hands of the San Francisco Dons. The Spartans have lost five matchups in a row and 13 of their last 14 games overall.
Eric Lex and Jason Seever each pitched 4.0 shutout innings and Reece Karalus closed down the ninth to limit a high-powered Nevada offense to four hits in a 3-0 Bronco win Monday, March 30. Against the Dons, the Broncos gave up a combined 17 runs in the eighth and ninth innings of each of the three games. On Thursday, the Broncos trailed 3-1 heading into the eighth inning before San Francisco scored the game's last six runs to win 9-1. On Friday, San Francisco plated nine runs in the eighth to break open a 3-3 tie en route to a 13-4 victory and on Saturday, the Broncos were shut out 6-0.
The Spartans lost three games of its weekend WAC set at Air Force entering the midweek matchup. The Falcons scored at least 11 runs in the three games, and outscored the Spartans 43-17 in the three-game set. San Jose State's last win was against Nevada, a 5-4 victory on March 27. Both the Broncos and Spartans recorded their most recent victories against the Wolf Pack; the teams have combined to lose eight games since each of their victories against Nevada.
STARTING PITCHERS
SCU LHP Evan Brisentine (1-2, 4.44 ERA) - SJSU LHP Jonathan Hernandez (0-2, 7.77 ERA)
QUICK PITCHES
Game 27: Tuesday, April 7, 2015 — 6 p.m. PST
Venue: Stephen Schott Stadium — Santa Clara, Calif.
Video: portal.stretchinternet.com/santaclara
Live Stats: www.santaclara.statbroadcast.com
Series Record: 127-87 SCU
First Meeting: 1936
Last Meeting: 4/29/14 SCU 7 - SJSU 4 at Muinicpal Stadium
Last Season: Teams Split the Season Series 1-1
4/15/14: SJSU 10 - SCU 7 at Schott Stadium
PITCHERS
Evan Brisentine makes his 11th appearance and third start of the season for the Broncos Tuesday night. In his last start March 29 at Pacific, Brisentine threw 5.1 innings and allowed six earned runs on nine hits with a walk and four strikeouts. In his last appearance, Brisentine threw 2.1 relief innings, allowing an earned run on five hits with a walk and two strikeouts April 4 vs. San Francisco. He also pitched a shutout inning against the Dons April 3. The senior made the longest outing of his career when he threw 6.1 shutout innings, allowing three hits alongside a walk and three strikeouts to earn the winning decision March 22 in a 7-1 win over No. 30 San Diego at Schott Stadium.
Jonathan Hernandez makes his 10th appearance and ninth start of the season for the Spartans. He faced only one batter and allowed a hit in his last outing, which came against Air Force on Friday.
Reece Karalus picked up four saves in a six-game and eight-day span March 22 against San Diego, March 24 at Grand Canyon, March 29 against Pacific and March 30 against Nevada. He ranks 3rd in program history with 20 career saves. Anthony Rea (2001-05) and Mike McDonald (1994-97) share the program record with 25 career saves.
BRONCOS
Jose Vizcaino, Jr. (.383/.464/.713) leads the Broncos in most major offensive categories, including home runs (6), RBIs (25) and stolen bases (7). Stevie Berman is the only other Bronco hitting better than .300 on the year at .321.
Vizcaino, Jr. and Berman each recorded six hits for the Broncos in their four games last week. Berman and Austin Fisher tied for a team-high two RBIs. Vizcaino, Jr., Berman and Tyler Meditz each recorded multiple extra-base hits.
Vizcaino, Jr. owns a team-best and career-long 15-game hitting streak; his previous career long was 14 games, spanning between the last six games of 2014 and first eight games of 2015.
Grant Meylan has reached base safely in 29 of 30 games to start his college career, and done so multiple times in 20 of those games. He leads the WCC with 28 walks.
Brett Bautista leads the Spartans with a .324 batting average — he is the only San Jose State batter hitting better than .300 on the season. Joe Stefanki tops the team with 17 walks and a .492 on-base percentage. Four-year starter Andre Mercurio ranks third on the team with a .267 batting average and leads the Spartans with 19 RBIs on the year.
San Jose State has been outscored 69-20 in its last five contests. The Spartans face four WCC teams this season: LMU, Saint Mary's, San Francisco and Santa Clara.
