Posted: Apr 16, 2019
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -Santa Clara baseball enters the back half of the nine-game homestand with a three-game series against 2018 NCAA Tournament qualifier, Gonzaga from Thursday to Saturday.
After kicking off the homestand with a win over Sacramento State, the Broncos have dropped the last four games including a pair of one-run games to Pacific over the past weekend.
Due to Easter Sunday, this week's series against the Zags starts on Thursday at 6 p.m., followed by another game at 6 p.m. on Friday with the series finale on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Gonzaga (17-15, 10-5 WCC) at Santa Clara (7-27, 1-11 WCC)
Games #35-37
Santa Clara, Calif. | Stephen Schott Stadium
All-Time Series: Gonzaga leads the series 51-44 dating back to 1973.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Thursday, April 18 • 6 p.m. PT
Gonzaga TBA vs. SCU TBA
Friday, April 19 • 6 p.m. PT
Gonzaga TBA vs. SCU TBA
Saturday, April 20 • 1 p.m. PT
Gonzaga TBA vs. SCU TBA
LAST TIME
The Broncos played four consecutive games from Friday to Monday and lost them all including two one-run games.
In the series opener against Pacific on Friday night, Santa Clara was one strike away from getting the win, however, defensive miscues allowed the Tigers to score two runs each in the ninth and 10th innings and fell, 9-8.
On Saturday, Hayden Pearce surrendered just two earned runs over six innings and Pacific combined to score seven times in the sixth and seventh innings to pull away for a 13-3 win over the Broncos.
In Sunday's series finale, Ryan Shreve tossed a complete game, no-hitter to beat the Broncos 1-0. Five Santa Clara pitchers combined to hold Pacific to four hits and one run but Shreve was nearly untouchable, allowing just one baserunner on a hit by pitch and faced 28 batters, striking out nine.
Santa Clara lost to Washington 11-1 on a rainy Monday as the Huskies pounded out 17 hits.
Jake MacNichols belted three homers and Ryan McCarthy hit two over the weekend.
ABOUT GONZAGA
Gonzaga is led by Mark Machtolf who is in his 19th year at the helm. The three-time WCC Coach of the Year (2009, 2013, 2017) guided the Zags to the NCAA Tournament last season afster defeating No. 1-seed Pepperdine in the title game of the WCC Baseball Championship.
The Bulldogs are 17-15, 10-5 WCC this season and will be playing its 21st game on the road at Schott Stadium on Thursday and just eight games at home.
Troy Johnston and Guthrie Morrison are the leading hitters, batting .326 and .313, respectively, while starting in all 32 games. Ryan Sullivan and Nick Nyquist supply the power with seven and six homers each while Nyquist leads the team with 23 RBIs along with a .402 OBP. As a team, they are batting .268
On the mound, the Zags have a 4.97 team ERA and have given up 37 home runs in 32 games.
Defensively, the Bulldogs have committed 26 errors in 32 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, 20 newcomers have seen action this season, the last one being catcher Ben McKnight, who made his Bronco debut as a pinch-hitter against Washington (April 16).
•At least three newcomers have been in the starting lineup in each of the 34 games this season.
-A season-high seven freshmen started on the field against UC Davis (March 26).
•Freshmen Dawson Brigman started in the each of the first 32 games before sitting out the game against Pacific on April 14. Freshmen Connor Henriques and Matt Jew have started the second most games among newcomers with 29.
•Brigman is the only newcomer who has started in the same position this season (33 games for Brigman at short. Henriques has started in 28 of 29 games at third.
•The freshmen have accounted for 46.1% the Bronco hit totals this season (112 of 243) with Brigman leading the way with 25 hits.
•The newcomers have accounted for 77.0% of the innings pitched (237 2/3 innings out of 308 2/3) with McCarville leading the way with 46 1/3 innings.
•Jew leads all newcomers with four home runs and is tied for second on the team.
•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 he tossed five hitless innings to earn his first win.
HOME RUNS
•The Broncos have hit 24 home runs collectively by seven different players (10 by MacNichols, four each by Jew and Jason Dicochea, two by McCarthy and Nnebe plus one each by Brigman and Faddoul).
•The first 12 home runs hit by the Broncos were all solo shots until Jake MacNichols' 3-run shot against LMU (March 16).
•Eighteen of the 24 home runs this season have been solo homers.
STREAKS
•Jake MacNichols has reached base safely in the last 13 games.
•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.
•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 20 innings this season.
•Jake MacNichols is second in the WCC with 10 home runs.
•Matthew Calhoun and Connor Henriques are seventh 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 24 innings while striking out 29.
BRONCO MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS UNDER RUSTY FILTER
•Four players from last season's squad was selected in the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Players Draft:
•RHP Steven Wilson (8th round by the San Diego Padres)
•INF Jake Brodt (9th round by the Toronto Blue Jays)
•INF John Cresto (28th round by the Colorado Rockies)
•RHP Penn Murfee (33rd round by the Seattle Mariners)
•Newcomer Keegan McCarville, a right-handed pitcher, was selected in the 24th round by the Tampa Bay Rays but chose to attend Santa Clara.
USA BASEBALL COACHING ASSIGNMENT
•This past summer, Filter served as the pitching coach for the inaugural USA Baseball 2018 16U National Team Development Program (NTDP) Stars team. He was previously the pitching coach for USA Baseball's 18U National Team in 2017 as well as coaching at the 2015 and 2016 Tournament of Stars.
MARK MARQUESS AT SANTA CLARA
•One of the premier coaches in college baseball history, member of American Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, and gold-medal winning Olympic baseball coach, Mark Marquess was hired as Special Assistant to Santa Clara Director of Athletics, Renee Baumgartner, last fall. In this new role, Marquess, who served as Stanford head baseball coach for 41 years and is the fourth winningest coach in Division I history, is a mentor for all Santa Clara coaches and staff, serving on campus committees, supporting development, and working on special projects.
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
Single-game tickets priced at $10 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.
