Posted: Apr 08, 2019
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara baseball hosts Sacramento State in a midweek tilt to kick off its nine-game homestand.
The Broncos will play nine games in a 15 day span starting with the Tuesday matchup against the Hornets, followed by a weekend series against West Coast Conference foe Pacific and a Monday (April 15) game against 2018 College World Series participant, Washington. It then plays another 2018 NCAA Tournament qualifier, Gonzaga (April 18-20) before concluding the homestand againt Cal Poly on April 23.
Santa Clara has won its last two midweek games, beating UC Davis (March 26) and Cal Poly (April 2) and has won two of its last four games.
Sacramento State (21-10) at Santa Clara (6-23)
Game #30
Santa Clara, Calif. | Stephen Schott Stadium
All-Time Series: Santa Clara leads the series 49-24 dating back to 1959.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Tuesday, April 9 • 6 p.m. PT
Sacramento State RHP Evan Gibbons (0-0, 99.00) vs. SCU RHP Locke Bernhardt (1-1, 3.20)
LAST TIME
The Broncos are coming off a conference series against Pepperdine last weekend where it went 1-2, beating the Waves in the series opener on Friday before dropping the last two games.
On Friday, Santa Clara won 5-2 as Russell Grant II tossed six strong innings and Ryan McCarthy's RBI double in the seventh broke a 2-all deadlock. Lex pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the save for Grant's first career win.
On Saturday, the Waves pounded 14 hits and scored 10 unanswered runs to beat the Broncos 10-1.
In the series finale on Sunday, Billy Cook hit a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Pepperdine a 5-4 win. The Broncos had a golden opportunity to win the rubber match when catcher Tony Boetto hit a two-RBI single in the top of the eighth to give the Broncos a 4-3 lead but the bullpen could not hold the lead, giving up the tying run in the ninth and the game winner in the 10th.
Boetto caught the first two games and went 4-for-9 with two RBIs. Dicochea also had four hits in the series going 4-for-11 with three RBIs including a home run in three games.
ABOUT SACRAMENTO STATE
Sacramento State led by head coach Reggie Christiansen who is in his ninth year at the helm and has led his teams to seven straight 30+ win seasons, six straight postseason appearances and two WAC tournament titles.
The Hornets are 21-10 this season having already played 21 of its games at home where they are 18-3 but are 3-7 on the road.
Sac State owns a sparkling 3.25 ERA and have struck out 283 opposing batters in 274 innings while limiting the opposition to a .228 batting average.
Matt Smith leads the team with a .289 batting average and is tied for the team lead in runs scored with 21 alongside Dawsen Bacho. Martin Vincelli-Simard tops the team in home runs and runs batted in with four and 23.
Defensively, the Hornets have committed 40 errors in 31 games.
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FIRST YEAR IMPROVEMENTS UNDER HEAD COACH RUSTY FILTER
•Head coach Rusty Filter enters his second year with the Broncos, coming off a 26-26 season. In his first season in 2018, the Broncos saw signifcant improvements in various categories from the previous season:
•Overall wins from 13 to 26
•Average home attendance from 181 to 531
•Runs scored from 238 to 277
•Bases on balls from 155 to 190
•On-base percentage from .330 to .348
•Team ERA from 6.39 to 4.86
•Hits/extra-base hits allowed from 525/164 to 497/134
•Strikeouts from 373 to 401
•Fielding percentage from .958 to .968
STEPHEN SCHOTT STADIUM IMPROVEMENTS
Since the end of last season, Stephen Schott Stadium, the home of the Broncos, underwent the following field improvements:
•Resurfaced all the infield (dirt, grass, home plate).
•New astro turf with foul lines in the foul territory.
•New bullpens on both sides.
•New logo behind home plate.
2019 SCHEDULE QUICK HITS
•Prior to the season, the Broncos were scheduled to play 29 of its 53 regular-season games at Stephen Schott Stadium where they were 15-12 at home last season.
•Opening day weekend's rain forced one game to be moved from San José State to Schott Stadium and added an extra home game against Omaha so the Broncos are now scheduled to play 31 games at home.
•The Feb. 15 game at San José State was postponed with no make up date scheduled.
•Santa Clara plays three Pac-12 conference teams - vs Washington State (Feb. 21-24), vs. Washington (April 15) and vs. Stanford (April 30) plus at Stanford on May 7.
•Games against three 2018 NCAA Tournament qualifiers are on the docket - vs. Washington (April 15), vs Gonzaga (April 18-20) and vs Stanford (April 30) and at Stanford (May 7) with the Huskies advancing to the College World Series.
•Longest homestead is nine games from April 9-23.
•Longest stretch of road game is six games from March 15-24.
NEW LOOK ROSTER
•Twenty-one newcomers dot the Santa Clara roster this season including 14 freshmen and seven transfers (excluding two player with roster exemptions who will not play in 2019 due to injuries - Matt Erickson and Alec Olmsted).
•The newcomers include 11 pitchers (eight right-handed and three left-handed), one catcher, six infielders and three outfielders.
NEWCOMERS IN ACTION
•Eighteen newcomers made their Bronco debuts on opening weekend along with RHP Matthew McGarry who sat out last season after transferring from Vanderbilt.
•In all, 19 newcomers have seen action this season, the last one being John Hanley, who made his Bronco debut as a pinch-hitter against LMU (March 17).
•At least three newcomers have been in the starting lineup in each of the 29 games this season.
-A season-high seven freshmen started on the field against UC Davis (March 26).
•Freshmen Dawson Brigman has started in the each of the first 29 games. Freshman Matt Jew has started the second most games among newcomers with 26.
•Brigman and Connor Henriques are the only players who have started in the same position this season (29 games for Brigman at short & 24 games for Henriques at third).
•The freshmen have accounted for 48.3% the Bronco hit totals this season (101 of 209) with Jew leading the way with 22 hits.
•The newcomers have accounted for 80.2% of the innings pitched (210 2/3 innings out of 262 2/3) with McCarville leading the way with 41 1/3 innings.
•Jew went 6-for-12 in the season opening series against San José State belting a solo home run in each game of the opening day doubleheader. Jew safely reached base on nine of 15 plate appearances.
•Brigman (vs. SJSU, Feb. 17), Jew (vs. SJSU, Feb. 17) and fellow freshman Blake Faddoul (vs. Washington State, Feb. 24) each have gone yard.
•Junior college transfers Brendan Ecklebarger (Feb. 22) and Keegan McCarville (Feb. 23) picked up their first career wins against Washington State.
•Junior college transfer Ethan Heinrich earned his first career save against Washington State (Feb. 23).
•Twin brothers Locke Bernhardt and Holden Bernhardt made their Bronco debuts in, appropriately, a twin bill against San José State on opening day (Feb. 16).
•Holden Bernhardt made his first start on the mound on Sunday against CSUN (March 24) and Locke Bernhardt followed suit making his first start on Tuesday against UC Davis (March 26) where tossed five hitless innings to earn his first win.
•Prior to his start at CSUN on March 22, McCarville had allowed just three runs in his last four starts spanning 24 1/3 innings, striking out 21 and walking just five. His record was 2-1 in the span.
HOME RUNS
•The Broncos have hit 18 home runs collectively by six different players (seven by MacNichols, four each by Jew and Jason Dicochea plus one each by Brigman, Faddoul and Nnebe).
•The first 12 home runs hit by the Broncos were all solo shots until Jake MacNichols' 3-run shot against LMU (March 16).
•Fifteen of the 18 home runs this season have been solo homers.
•The pitching staff has given up 13 home runs through the first 29 games including just two in the first 18 games.
STREAKS
•Jason Dicochea had a 12-game hitting streak and reached base safely in the 16 games until it was snapped against San Francisco on Sunday.
•Jake MacNichols hit a home run in three consecutive games (Feb. 23 - March 1).
NOTABLE
•Brendan Buckley threw a career-high 5 1/3 innings in relief against LMU (March 16) after tossing five innings in his previous appearance vs Omaha (March 9). Coming off an injury last season, the redshirt sophomore has allowed just two earned runs in 18 1/3 innings this season.
•Jake MacNichols is third in the WCC with seven home runs.
•Matthew Calhoun and Connor Henriques are sixth in the league lead in sacrifice bunts with five.
•Bronco closers redshirt senior Eric Lex and junior Ethan Heinrich have combined for four saves and have allowed just two earned runs in 23 innings while striking out 29.
SCHEDULE
The 2019 schedule features games against three teams (Washington, Gonzaga and Stanford) that qualified for the 2018 NCAA Baseball Tournament with the Huskies advancing to the College World Series. Among the 53 regular-season games, 29 will be played at home in Stephen Schott Stadium and 24 on the road. 2019 Schedule Release. *Note, the schedule has undergone some undates since the release. For the latest, check the schedule page.
TICKETS
Season or single-game tickets are available. Click here to purchase online or contact the ticket office in Leavey Center weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. at (408) 554-4660 or BroncoTickets@scu.edu. Group discounts are also available through our ticket office sales and service consultants. Gates to Stephen Schott Stadium, as well as its ticket booth, are open one hour prior to the start of the game.
PARKING
Parking is available in the Guadalupe lot, adjacent to 455 El Camino Real. The Guadalupe lot is reserved beginning 60 minutes before game time through the end of the event for free parking. Baseball parking is no longer allowed in the lot behind Schott Stadium's left field wall. Overflow parking is available in the Leavey Center lot. Spectators that plan to arrive more than an hour prior to game time on weekdays are encouraged to purchase a parking permit for the Leavey lot. All SCU lot parking is free on weekends. ADA parking is available in the lot directly in front of the main gates; there is no general public parking in this lot. Follow signs for parking instructions. Click here for a campus parking map.
