Posted: Apr 19, 2018
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara baseball beat Cal, 6-4, on the road on Tuesday to mark the start of playing 12 of its next 13 games on the road. The Broncos head up to Pullman, Washington to take on another Pac-12 program, Washington State, in a weekend series starting on Friday.
The Cougars (10-20) are 6-5 at home this season having last played at Bailey-Bryton Field a week ago when it won one game of the weekend series against Cal. The Broncos are 5-6 on the road.
Washington State is batting .243 as a team led by Blake Clanton and J.J. Hancock who are hitting .310 and .307, respectively. Justin Harrer leads the team in home runs and RBIs with eight and 18, while hitting .245.
The Cougars pitching staff has a 4.95 ERA with Scotty Sunitsch leading the way with a 2.83 ERA in eight starts spanning 47.2 innings. Sunitsch and Ryan Walker lead the team with three wins apiece. Walker has the only three saves for the Cougars.
This Week in Bronco Baseball
•Santa Clara (16-18, 4-11 WCC) play all four games against Pac-12 programs on the road this week, winning the midweek game at Cal, 6-4, and playing Washington State in the weekend series.
•The Broncos beat Cal, 6-4, on Tuesday behind a pair of home runs by John Cresto and Jake MacNichols in the first two frames to go up, 4-0, along with solid bullpen work. The Bears entered the game batting .311 as a team and scoring 7.3 runs per game but the Broncos pitching staff held the Bears to just four runs. Four Bronco relievers combined to allow just three hits and one run in the last six innings.
Last Week in Bronco Baseball
•Santa Clara lost all four games last week at home. In the midweek, the Broncos lost to San José State, 9-3, in a non-conference game to split the home-and-home series with the Spartans.
•In the weekend series against West Coast Conference foe Pepperdine, the Broncos were shutout 7-0 by the Wave in the series opener.
•In game two, it was a pitcher's duel between Bronco starter Freddie Erlandson and Waves starter Jonathan Pendergast for the first five innings with neither pitcher allowing a run. Erlandson retired 10 Waves at one point and Pendergast faced the minimum number of batters thru five. Both teams scored two runs each in the sixth frame and it was a one run game in favor of the Waves heading to the ninth until they scored three more to put the game away, 6-2.
•In the series finale, the Broncos nearly overcame a six-run deficit, scoring five in the bottom of the seventh. With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, the Waves made a defensive gem at leftfield to thwart the Bronco comeback, to win 9-8.
Series Information
Game #35-37
Pullman, Wash. | Bailey-Brayton Field
All-Time Series: Santa Clara trails 4-11. The teams first played in 1966 and last played in 2008.
Probable Starters
Friday, April 20 • 5 p.m. PT
SCU TBA vs. WSU TBA
Saturday, April 21 • 2 p.m. PT
SCU TBA vs. WSU TBA
Sunday, April 22 • 1 p.m. PT
SCU TBA vs. WSU TBA
GAMEDAY INFORMATION |
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ABOUT SANTA CLARA
Marked Improvement
•Thirty-four games into the 52 game season, the Broncos have improved by three games in the overall win column and three games in the home win column thus far.
Schedule
•At this time there is no make-up game scheduled for the UC Davis game which was postponed back on March 13.
•This weekend's games against Washington State will be the 35 - 37th game of the season. Of the 18 remaining games, including this weekend's games, only four games will be played at home (midweek game vs Cal Poly on April 24; and home finale vs Loyola Marymount from May 11-13) as the Broncos played a schedule front loaded with home games.
Solid Start
•Santa Clara got off to a 13-5 start, its best start since the 2012 season when it went 13-3.
•The Broncos won four consecutive series (2-1 series win over Wake Forest Feb.23-25; 3-0 sweep over Utah March 2-4; 3-1 series win over Sacramento State March 8-11; and 2-1 series win over San Diego March 16-18) before losing the last series against Saint Mary's (March 23-25).
•The Broncos are 4-1 in extra inning games this season with three of them coming off in walk-off fashion (Feb. 24 vs Wake Forest in 14 innings; March 4 vs Utah in 12 innings; March 8 vs Sacramento State in 10 innings, March 10 at Sacramento State in 10 innings). It won its first four extra-inning games before losing to BYU on game one of the double header on April 6.
Streaks
•Joe Becht has reached base safely in all 34 games this season (Got a hit in 25 games, drew a walk in 8 games he did not get a hit in and was hit by a pitch in the other game he did not get a hit or walk).
•Grant Meylan's 20 consecutive games bases reached streak came to an end against Pepperdine on April 13.
•Santa Clara had won six consecutive one-run games before losing to Saint Mary's, 6-5, on March 24. The Broncos are now 7-5 in one-run games, losing the last four.
•John Cresto hit a home run in four consecutive games, all solo shots, from Feb. 23 - 27. He hit one in each game of the Wake Forest series as well as in the midweek game against Nevada.
•Closer Eric Lex recorded a save in three consecutive games from Feb. 27 - March 4.
•The Broncos had a season-high seven game win streak from Feb. 27 - March 10 and a nine game losing streak from March 31 - April 15.
Captains
•Sixth-year senior right-handed pitcher Steven Wilson and senior first baseman Jake Brodt were named captains for the 2018 Santa Clara squad.
Brodt's Two Grand Slams In One Inning
•Brodt hit two grand slams in the seventh inning on Feb. 17 against Boston College, becoming just the seventh Division I player to accomplish the feat since the NCAA began keeping records in 1957. He is the first to do so since 2000 when T.J. Soto of Louisiana Tech did it against Western
Kentucky.
•Brodt's first grand slam came with the Broncos trailing 9-7 in the seventh inning and put them up for good. His second grand slam came with the Broncos up 16-9. In the first inning, Brodt hit a sacrifice fly for the first RBI of the game and in the sixth, Brodt hit a solo home run to finish the game 3-for-5 with three home runs and 10 RBIs.
•The Huntington Beach, California native's two grand slams in an inning was featured on ESPN's SportsCenter and was named NCBWA National Hitter of the Week and Rawlings West Coast Conference Player of the Week.
In Season Accolades
•Jake Brodt has twice been named the WCC Player of the Week this season on Feb. 19 after his two grand slam in an inning game and a month later on March 19 after going 5-for-14 with three doubles, two home runs and drove in seven runs against San Diego while playing first and third base.
Hit By Pitch
•On Feb. 17, Boston College hit 10 Bronco players, tying an NCAA Division I record along with Baylor vs. TCU, March 6, 2012; Saint Joseph's vs. Fordham, April 5, 2009; Washington vs. Rice, May 22, 1998.
•Seven Broncos were hit in an inning (in the seventh) of the Feb. 17 game, breaking the NCAA Division I record (Previous record: 6—Hawaii vs. Hawaii Hilo, Feb. 8, 1998 (eighth inn.)
•Santa Clara is 14th in the nation (out of 297) in being hit by a pitch with 60. Florida A&M is first with 81.
•Four Broncos - Jason Dicochea, Grant Meylan, Niko Holm, and Joe Becht - lead the team in HBPs with eight each.
Coaching Staff
•Head coach Rusty Filter is in his first season with Santa Clara. Filter picked up his first career head coaching win on Feb. 17 against Boston College.
oEach member of his coaching staff is in their first season with Santa Clara and was selected in the MLB draft.
oFilter himself was selected in the 35th round of the 1990 MLB draft by the Toronto Blue Jays as a pitcher.
oFilter will make the mound visits and signal pitching changes. Filter coached third for two games this season (vs Pepperdine on April 13 & 14)
•Assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Jon Karcich coached alongside Filter at Stanford from 2015 – 17.
oKarcich returns to his alma mater where he played for the Broncos from 2007 – 09 where he was a two-time All-West Coast Conference honoree.
oKarcich was selected in the seventh round of the 2009 MLB draft by the California Angels as an infielder.
oKarcich coaches the infielders and servesd as the bench coach for the first 30 games before coaching first starting with the Pepperdine series.
•Assistant coach BK Santy, a former catcher at Washington, coaches the catchers and outfielders as well as serving as the third base coach.
oSanty was selected in the 30th round of the 2012 MLB draft by the Minnesota Twins as a catcher.
•Assistant coach Greg Gonzalez, a former pitcher at Fresno State, serves as the bench coach.
oGonzalez was selected in the 15th round of the 2011 MLB draft by the San Diego Padres as a pitcher.
