Posted: Apr 22, 2019
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara hosts Cal Poly on Tuesday night to conclude its nine-game homestand where they are 2-6 in the span with three of those losses by one-run.
The Broncos have won three of its last four midweek games including a win over Cal Poly down in San Luis Obispo, California back on April 2.
In the first matchup against the Mustangs, Blake Faddoul laid down a squeeze bunt to score Connor Henriques in the top of the 10th to give Santa Clara a 7-6 win in extra innings. The game went to extra inning on a late rally by Cal Poly when they scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at 6-all.
Keegan McCarville got the win in relief and Alex Reelfs picked up his first career save. Henriques, Ryan McCarthy and Gavin Maloney each had two hits in the game.
Gonzaga (19-17) at Santa Clara (8-29)
Games #38
Santa Clara, Calif. | Stephen Schott Stadium
All-Time Series: Santa Clara leads the series 45-44 dating back to 1956.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Tuesday, April 23 • 6 p.m. PT
Cal Poly LHP Andrew Alvarez (1-0, 4.87) vs. SCU RHP Brandon Buckley (0-0, 0.90)
LAST TIME
Santa Clara won the opening game of the three-game West Coast Conference series against Gonzaga but fell short in the final two games to lose the series against the Bulldogs.
In Thursday's series opener, Russell Grant II, Keegan McCarville and Eric Lex combined on a four-hit shutout, and Andre Nnebe hit a three-run homer to lead the Broncos to a 4-0 win. Grant II (2-3) gave up just three hits while striking out five and walking two Gonzaga batters in 6 2/3 innings.
The Zags evened the series on Friday night as Nick Nyquist drove in five runs and scored twice, and Alex Jacob tossed five scoreless innings to lead Gonzaga to a 10-2 win. Jason Dicochea and Andre Nnebe had RBI singles in the bottom of the ninth to break up the shutout.
In the rubber match of the series on Saturday afternoon, the Broncos rallied in the ninth inning, scoring three runs to get within 6-5, but left the tying and potential game-winning runs on base.
Dicochea was 5-for-12 in the series with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored.
ABOUT CAL POLY
The Mustangs are led by head coach Larry Lee in his 17th year at Cal Poly where they are 19-17 this season including 8-8 at home. Since the loss against the Broncos, the Mustangs have gone 7-3.
Lee's record at Cal Poly stands at 532-408-2 and 992-649-5 overall having previously coached at Cuesta College.
Cal Poly is hitting .261 as a team, raising its average by .012 since the last meeting with the Broncos. They are led by Elijah Greene who is batting .303 Four difference Mustangs have hit a home run each including Bradlee Beesley who leads the team in RBIs with 24.
Left-hander Andrew Alvarez (1-0, 4.87) will be on the mound to start the game on Tuesday. Cal Poly has a 4.42 team ERA and the opponents have a .261 batting average.
Michael Clark is the closer with six saves to go along with a 4-1 record and 1.71 ERA in a team-high 21 appearances.
Defensively, the Mustangs have committed 54 errors in 36 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 37 games this season.
-A season-high seven freshmen started on the field against UC Davis (March 26).
•Freshmen Dawson Brigman started in 36 of the 37 games including the first 32 games before sitting out the game against Pacific on April 14. Freshman Connor Henriques has started the second most games among newcomers with 32.
•Brigman is the only newcomer who has started the same position in the game he has played in this season (36 games for Brigman at short. Henriques has started in 31 of 32 games at third.
•The freshmen have accounted for 45.9% the Bronco hit totals this season (122 of 266) with Brigman leading the way with 28 hits.
•The newcomers have accounted for 77.9% of the innings pitched (261 2/3 innings out of 335 2/3) with McCarville leading the way with 48 2/3 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 25 home runs collectively by seven different players (10 by MacNichols, four each by Jew and Jason Dicochea, three by Nnebe, two by McCarthy 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 25 home runs this season have been solo homers.
STREAKS
•Jake MacNichols had reached base safely in 14 straight games until the streak was snapped on April 19.
•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 third 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 26 innings while striking out 32.
•Russell Grant II is 10th in the conference with a 2.63 ERA.
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.
