Posted: Apr 14, 2021
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Coming off a dramatic walk-off win over crosstown rival San Francisco last Sunday, Santa Clara baseball will look to carry that momentum against another intersectional adversary, Saint Mary's, in a West Coast Conference series starting Friday. The first pitch for Friday's game is at 3 p.m. with both the Saturday and Sunday games starting at 1 p.m. from Louis Guisto Field.
Playing against San Francisco last Sunday, Santa Clara (12-17, 5-7) trailed 7-6 in the bottom of the ninth and down to its last out, Mike Bowes hit a three-run walk-off home run to cap off a rally that saw the Broncos score five runs in the last two frames to turn a 7-4 deficit into a win.
While the Broncos lost the series to the Dons, they have won two of the last three West Coast Conference series.
This weekend's matchup with the Gaels is the first of two series this spring between the two schools. They will meet again in late May which will be counted as nonconference games. The Broncos have two such series against WCC foes this season, the other being San Francisco where they will play a series in the regular season finale that will not count towards the WCC standings.
Santa Clara (12-17, 5-7) vs Saint Mary's (14-16, 4-8)
Games #30-32 • Louis Guisto Field
Friday, April 16 • 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 17 • 1 p.m.
Sunday, April 18 • 1 p.m.
All-Time Series: Santa Clara leads the series 162-124 dating back to 1883. The two schools last met on May 10-12, 2019 in Moraga where the Gaels won all three games.
SANTA CLARA NOTES
• Santa Clara has won two of the four West Coast Conference series this season (Lost all three against Gonzaga; won two of three at Portland; won two of three against BYU and lost two of three against San Francisco).
• The Broncos are 5-3 in the last eight games.
• The Broncos travel just once out of state this regular season (played at Oregon State, March 23-24 & at Portland, March 26-28).
• Santa Clara played eight games over a 10 day stretch to finish the month of March where they went 3-5. They lost all three games at home in the WCC opening series against Gonzaga (March 19-21) before winning three of five on the trip to the state of Oregon.
• Santa Clara is averaging 5.2 runs per game with a .246 batting average. The team is giving up 5.3 runs a game with a 4.37 ERA allowing an opponent batting average of .230
• Nine different hurlers have started in the first 29 games led by Russell Grant and Freddie Erlandson with eight each.
• Four players have started in all 29 games: Coleman Brigman (CF), Dawson Brigman (2B), Jason Dicochea (SS) and Jake MacNichols (10 games each at catcher and first base, nine at DH).
• A Brigman brother (Coleman or Dawson) has batted leadoff in 45-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 nine 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 non-first inning home runs came against Sacramento State (March 4) in the seventh, against Gonzaga (March 20) and San Francisco (April 10) in the eighth, against Oregon State (March 23) in the fourth and against Portland (March 26) in the ninth.
• The Bernhardt twins picked up the win and the save in the series clinching win over Portland on March 28. RHP Locke Bernhardt came in relief for the win (3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 6 K) and LHP Holden Bernhardt (2 IP, 1 H, 3 K) closed out the game. It was the first time the brothers earned a win and picked up a save in the same game.
• National and Conference Rankings
-Jake MacNichols leads the conference in home runs with nine, a mark that's good for 29th nationally.
-Cole Kitchen leads the conference with five wins and is tied for 16th nationally.
-Austin Reyes is tied for second in the conference in sacrifice flies with four and is tied 17th nationally.
-Cole Kitchen is first in the conference and 17th nationally with 4.83 hits allowed per nine innings.
-Travis Howard is tied for second in the conference with four saves and tied for 50th nationally.
-With three shutouts on the season, the Bronco pitching staff is tied for fourth in the conference.
ABOUT SAINT MARY'S
Saint Mary's (14-16, 4-8) is led by second year head coach Greg Moore and enters the weekend series on a three-game skid. The Gaels lost their midweek game to Cal at home and dropped the last two games of the series against Gonzaga up in Spokane, Washington.
The Gaels average 3.9 runs per game with a .229 team batting average.
Jacob Talamante leads the team in hitting at .323 and stolen bases with eight but no other regular is hitting above .253. Justin Banks has six of the team's nine run runs to lead in that category along with RBIs with 15.
On the mound, Ky Bush (3-3, 3.05 ERA), Sam Bower (4-3, 3.31) and Carlos Lomeli (2-4, 5.48) have each started eight games to comprise the weekend rotation. Saint Mary's has a 3.94 team ERA with the opposition batting .242 against them.
Five pitchers have earned at least one save with Christopher Campos leading the way with four saves.
Defensively, the Gaels have committed 28 errors on the season and has a .975 fielding percentage.
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