Posted: Apr 28, 2021
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara baseball heads down to Los Angeles to face LMU for a weekend series starting Friday at Page Stadium. The first pitch for both Friday's series opener and Saturday is at 6 p.m. with the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Broncos (12-23, 5-13) are currently mired in a six-game losing streak and will look to snap out of it against the Lions (14-25, 7-11) who have lost three-straight including both games of a mid-week series against Oregon State this week.
The Lions are 8-9 at home and the Broncos are 6-11 on the road.
While the Broncos are 5-13 in conference play, the pitching staff has a stellar 3.47 ERA and have held opponents to only a .224 batting average. Outfielder Mike Bowes is hitting .348 (23-for-66) with a team-high three home runs and five steals against WCC opponents with Jason Dicochea hitting .320 and driving in a team-high 14 runs.
Santa Clara (12-23, 5-13) vs LMU (14-25, 7-11)
Games #36-38 • Page Stadium
Friday, April 30 • 6 p.m.
Saturday, May 1 • 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 2 • 1 p.m.
All-Time Series: Santa Clara leads the series 95-88 dating back to 1932. The two schools last met on March 15-17, 2019 at Page Stadium where the Lions won all three games including an 18 inning affair in the series opener that went in favor of the Lions, 2-1. The game was also the WCC opener that season and it lasted five hours five minutes.
SANTA CLARA NOTES
• Santa Clara is averaging 4.8 runs per game with a .239 batting average. The team is giving up 5.3 runs a game with a 4.33 ERA allowing an opponent batting average of .234
• Nine different hurlers have started in the first 35 games led by Russell Grant and Freddie Erlandson with 10 each.• Two players have started in all 35 games: Coleman Brigman (CF) and Jason Dicochea (SS). Dawson Brigman (2B) and Jake MacNichols (C, 1B, DH) have played in 34 games.
• A Brigman brother (Coleman or Dawson) has batted leadoff in 48 of the last 52 games going back to the start of the 2020 season. Mike Bowes, JonJon Berring (twice) and Austin Reyes are the only other non-Brigman that has batted leadoff. Bowes was the opening day leadoff batter in 2020; Berring batted leadoff against Saint Mary's on April 17 and San Diego on April 24; and Reyes hit against San Diego on April 25. Coleman Brigman has hit atop the line up in 47 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).
• National and Conference Rankings
-Jake MacNichols tied for first in 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 5.00 and 5.49 hits allowed per nine innings.
-Cole Kitchen is fifth in the conference with a 2.75 ERA.
-Santa Clara is second in the conference with 32 home runs, trailing leader Pepperdine by three.
ABOUT LMU
Head coach Nathan Choate is in his second year at the helm for LMU. His first in 2020 was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic where the Lions finished 8-8.
This season, the Lions are 14-25 overall and 7-11 in WCC play.
LMU is hitting .240 as a team and averages 3.8 runs per game.
Julian Bury leads the team in hitting with a .345 batting average while Kenny Oyama is just behind him with a .340 average. Oyama also tops the team in stolen bases with 12 in 17 attempts.
Alec Cargin supplies the power with five of the team's 13 home runs and has driven in a team-high 25 runs.
On the hill, the Lions have a 5.55 team ERA with the opponents batting .292
Josh Agnew (4-1, 3.45 ERA) has a team-high four wins while reliever Holden Christian has a 0.00 ERA in 14 appearances. Christian has 43 strikeouts in 28 innings and has allowed just seven hits and three runs, all unearned.
Defensively, the Lions have committed 46 errors on the season and has a .967 fielding percentage.
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