Posted: Mar 25, 2021
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Coming off a two-game series split against No. 21 Oregon State, Santa Clara will face Portland in a West Coast Conference series starting Friday. The first pitch for Friday is at 6 p.m. followed by a 2 p.m. start on Saturday and a noon start in the series finale on Sunday.
This weekend's series will conclude a stretch of playing eight games in 10 days for the Broncos where they are 1-4 thus far. Santa Clara (7-13, 0-3) lost all three games in the WCC opener to Gonzaga last weekend before spliting two games against Oregon State in the midweek series.
SANTA CLARA NOTES
• The current road trip to Oregon is the one and only time the Broncos are travelling out of state this regular season.
• Santa Clara is averaging 5.3 runs per game with a .237 batting average. The team is giving up 6.1 runs a game with a 5.02 ERA allowing an opponent batting average of .240
• Eight different hurlers have started in the first 20 games led by Russell Grant and Freddie Erlandson with five each.
• The Broncos are 3-2 in games that Russell Grant has started on the mound.
• Four players have started in all 20 games: Coleman Brigman (CF), Dawson Brigman (2B), Jason Dicochea (SS) and Jake MacNichols (eight games each at catcher and at DH, four at first base).
• A Brigman brother (Coleman or Dawson) has batted leadoff in 36-straight games since the start of the 2020 season. Mike Bowes is the only other non-Brigman that has batted leadoff when he was the opening day leadoff batter in 2020. Coleman Brigman batted leadoff the rest of the 2020 season and has continued it this season with the exception of the Feb. 26 game against Stanford when older brother Dawson Brigman batted leadoff.
• Four of the seven home runs hit by Jake MacNichols this season have come in the first inning including three-run homers in back-to-back opening innings against UC San Diego (March 13 & 14). The only non-first inning home runs came against Sacramento State (March 4) in the seventh, against Gonzaga (March 20) in the eighth and against Oregon State (March 23) in the fourth.
• National and Conference Rankings
-Jake MacNichols leads the conference in home runs with seven, a mark that's good for 23rd nationally.
-Cole Kitchen leads the conference with four wins and is tied for sixth nationally.
-Austin Reyes is tied for third nationally (and tied for first in conference) in sacrifice flies with four.
-Cole Kitchen is second in the conference with 4.88 hits allowed per nine innings.
-Travis Howard is tied for second in the conference with fourth saves and tied for 16th nationally.
-With two shutouts on the season, the Bronco pitching staff is tied for third in the conference.
Santa Clara (7-13, 0-3) vs Portland (10-9, 3-0)
Games #21-23 • Joe Etzel Field
Friday, March 26 • 6 p.m.
Saturday, March 27 • 2 p.m.
Sunday, March 28 • Noon
All-Time Series: Santa Clara leads the series 56-38 dating back to 1956. The two schools last met on April 26-28, 2019 in Portland where the Pilots took two out of three games.
ABOUT PORTLAND
Portland is 10-9 this season including 3-0 in West Coast Conference action sweeping Pacific on the road last weekend.
The Pilots score 4.9 runs per game with a .257 batting average. They have belted 14 home runs with four players hitting multiple homers on the season led by Chad Stevens and Hunter Montgery with three.
Stevens also lead the team with 15 RBIs.
Ben Patacsil leads a group of hitters batting at least .333 with a .373 average.
The pitching staff has a 3.44 ERA and is giving up 4.1 runs per game while holding the opponents to a .223 batting average. They have three shutouts to their credit to lead the WCC.
Bradley McVay (3-0, 1.57 ERA) and Christian Peters (3-2, 3.23) each have a team-high three wins. Eli Morse (13 IP, 1.38 ERA with a 12-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio) has five saves to lead the team.
Defensively, the Pilots have committed 26 errors on the season and has a .963 fielding percentage.
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