Posted: Apr 24, 2019
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara hits the road this weekend against Portland after concluding its nine-game homestand with a 5-0 win over Cal Poly on Tuesday to finish with a 3-6 record during the span.
The first pitch of the series between Broncos and the Pilots is set for 6 p.m. on Friday and continues on Saturday at 6 p.m. and wraps up on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Broncos are 5-8 in the month of April of three of those wins coming on shutouts.
Santa Clara (9-29, 2-13 WCC) at Portland (21-20, 3-15 WCC)
Games #39-41
Portland, Ore. | Joe Etzel Field
All-Time Series: Santa Clara leads the series 55-36 dating back to 1956.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday, April 26 • 6 p.m. PT
SCU LHP Russell Grant II (2-3, 2.62) vs. Portland RHP Chris Clements (7-1, 1.60)
Saturday, April 27 • 6 p.m. PT
SCU LHP Holden Bernhardt (0-5, 6.66) vs. Portland RHP Eli Morse (2-6, 3.06)
Sunday, April 28 • 1 p.m. PT
SCU TBA vs. Portland TBA
LAST TIME
Eight Bronco pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout, and Jake MacNichols drove in three runs to help Santa Clara to a 5-0 win over Cal Poly on Tuesday night.
SCU kick started the nine-game homestand with a shutout over Sacramento State back on April 9 and finished it with another shutout.
On Tuesday, MacNichols drove in all three runs in the first three frames to give Santa Clara an early lead that the Broncos would not relinquish.
In a predetermined rotation, Brendon Buckley (1-0), who made his first Bronco start in over two years, pitched a scoreless first inning before giving way to Ethan Heinrich in the second. Broncos head coach Rusty Filter used a total of seven relievers with each tossing an inning with the exception of Locke Bernhardt, who pitched the sixth and seventh innings.
ABOUT PORTLAND
The Pilots are led by head coach Geoff Loomis who is in his fourth year at the helm. Portland is 21-20 this season but are 3-15 in conference play. Loomis has a career record of 398-325-3 having previously coached at Pacific Lutheran for 13 seasons.
Portland is hitting .244 as a team but have slugged 43 home runs to lead the conference. Twelve players have gone deep led by Hunter Montgomery's eight round trippers. Cody Hawken has driven in 33 runs to lead the squad.
On the mound, the Pilots have a team ERA of 3.94. Chris Clements leads the pitching staff with a 7-1 record with the league's second best ERA at 1.60. Connor Knutson is the closer with eight saves to his credit having appeared in 17 games.
Defensively, the Pilots have committed 56 errors in 41 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 has started in 37 of the 38 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 33.
•Brigman is the only newcomer who has started the same position in the game he has played in this season (37 games for Brigman at short. Henriques has started in 32 of 33 games at third.
•The freshmen have accounted for 45.6% the Bronco hit totals this season (125 of 274) with Allie and Brigman leading the way with 28 hits each.
•The newcomers have accounted for 77.9% of the innings pitched (268 2/3 innings out of 344 2/3) with McCarville leading the way with 49 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 26 home runs collectively by seven different players (11 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 26 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
•Brandon 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 21 innings this season.
•Buckley's start on April 23 was his first in over two years. The redshirt sophomore sat out all last season due to an injury and returned to pick up his first career win against Cal Poly on April 23.
•Jake MacNichols is third in the WCC with 11 home runs and sixth in slugging percentage (.549)
•Cam Allie, Dawson Brigman, Matthew Calhoun and Connor Henriques are seventh in the league 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 28 innings while striking out 33.
•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.
