Posted: Apr 21, 2021
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara baseball begins the second half of West Coast Conference play with a weekend series against San Diego starting Friday. The first pitch for Friday's game is at 3 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. start on Saturday and at noon on Sunday's finale.
Except for parents and guardians of Santa Clara student-athletes, fans will not be permitted in Stephen Schott Stadium. Due to a spike in COVID-19 cases with the campus community and despite an improvement, we were unable to allow spectators until this weekend as the priority continues to be the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff. The university will continue to evaluate policies for access to events. While the state of California announced guidance for outdoor seated venues on April 1, the university reserves the right to be more cautious than public health guidance.
Santa Clara (12-20, 5-10) faced Saint Mary's last weekend in the midway point of a nine series conference slate. The Broncos have won two of five WCC series thus far with four more remaining. The final two regular season series against Saint Mary's (May 21-23) and San Francisco (May 28-30) are nonconference series, having already played the two schools.
While the Broncos are 5-10 in conference play, the pitching staff has a 3.23 ERA and held opponents to only a .218 batting average. Outfielder Mike Bowes is hitting .357 (14-for-41) with a team-high three home runs against WCC opponents with Jason Dicochea hitting .317 Both Bowes and Dicochea have driven in a team best 11 runs in conference games.
San Diego (22-8, 8-4) vs Santa Clara (12-20, 5-10)
Games #33-35 • Stephen Schott Stadium
Friday, April 23 • 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 24 • 1 p.m.
Sunday, April 25 • noon
All-Time Series: San Diego leads the series 68-61 dating back to 1962. The two schools last met on May 3-5, 2019 at Schott Stadium where the Toreros took two out of three games.
SANTA CLARA NOTES
• Santa Clara has won two of the five West Coast Conference series this season (Lost all three against Gonzaga; won two of three at Portland; won two of three against BYU, lost two of three against San Francisco, lost all three against Saint Mary's).
• Santa Clara is averaging 4.9 runs per game with a .238 batting average. The team is giving up 5.3 runs a game with a 4.30 ERA allowing an opponent batting average of .232
• Nine different hurlers have started in the first 32 games led by Russell Grant and Freddie Erlandson with nine each.
• Three players have started in all 32 games: Coleman Brigman (CF), Dawson Brigman (2B) and Jason Dicochea (SS). Jake MacNichols has played and started in 31 games (10 games at catcher, 12 at first base and nine at DH) missing the game against Saint Mary's (April 17).
• A Brigman brother (Coleman or Dawson) has batted leadoff in 47 of the last 49 games going back to the start of the 2020 season. Mike Bowes and JonJon Berring are the only other non-Brigman that has batted leadoff. Bowes was the opening day leadoff batter in 2020 and Berring batted leadoff against Saint Mary's on April 17. Coleman Brigman has hit atop the line up in 46 of those games with older brother Dawson Brigman doing it in one game on Feb. 26 game against Stanford.
• 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.
• 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.
• National and Conference Rankings
-Jake MacNichols leads the West Coast Conference in home runs with nine.
-Cole Kitchen is tied for the conference lead with five wins.
-Russell Grant and Cole Kitchen are first and second in the conference with 5.24 and 5.35 hits allowed per nine innings.
-Cole Kitchen is 10th in the conference with a 2.94 ERA.
-Santa Clara is second in the conference with 30 home runs, trailing leader Pepperdine by two.
ABOUT SAN DIEGO
Head coach Rich Hill is in his 23rd year at the helm at San Diego (22-8, 8-4) compiling a 736-510-4 record making him the winningest coach in the history of the WCC.
This season, the Toreros leads the conference in scoring (7.6 runs per game), batting average (.304) on-base percentage (.390) and slugging percentage (.455) and currently sits third in the conference with an 8-4 record, trailing Gonzaga (11-4) and Portland (10-5) who have each played 15 conference games.
Six players are batting over .322 headlined by Jack Costello who leads the conference with a .378 average. Thomas Luevano leads the team with eight home runs and a league leading 42 RBIs.
The pitching staff has a 3.98 ERA and the opponents are hitting .254
Conner Thurman (4-2, 2.74 ERA) has logged a team-high 42.2 innings over 10 appearances including six starts while fanning 53. Jake Miller (4-1, 2.78) has started a team-high seven games.
Kieran Shaw (14 appearances, 1-0, 3.16) leads the team with five saves.
Defensively, the Toreros have committed 25 errors on the season and has a .977 fielding percentage.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION |
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| Live Stream / Video |
Friday (pregame interview with UTL Matt Jew starting at 2:45 p.m.) Saturday (pregame interview with RHP/OF Cole Kitchen starting at 12:45 p.m.) Sunday (pregame interview with OF Michael O'Hara starting at 11:45 a.m.) |
| Live Stats | |
| Santa Clara | |
| San Diego | |
