http://collegebaseball360.com/college-baseball-notebook-week-10/ http://collegebaseball360.com/college-baseball-notebook-week-10/#comments Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:13:53 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=7668

www.simplesharebuttons.com

A By The Numbers Look At Another Week Of Action

20 & 16…Touchdown passes thrown and home runs hit, respectively, during the current academic year by Clemson’s

Kyle Parker (Clemson photo)

Kyle Parker.  The quarterback/outfielder threw 20 touchdowns for the Tigers last fall and became the first “20-15″ player in Division One history after belting a grand slam in Tuesday’s 22-4 win over USC Upstate.  He also tallied his 16th homer of the season in Sunday’s win over North Carolina.

3 & 7…Home runs hit and RBIs by Parker’s teammate, John Stinson, in that same Tuesday game.  The three HR tied a Clemson single-game record.  Clemson scored 17 of its 22 runs in the first three innings alone.

5…Former college football/baseball players taken in the weekend’s NFL draft- Stanford’s Toby Gerhart (#51-Minnesota Vikings), Notre Dame’s Golden Tate (#60-Seattle Seahawks), LSU’s Chad Jones (#76 New York Giants), Minnesota’s Eric Decker (#87-Denver Broncos), and Florida’s Riley Cooper (#159-Philadelphia Eagles).  Gerhart and Tate were second round picks, Jones and Decker went in the third round, while Cooper was tabbed in the fifth round.

5…At-bats, hits, runs scored, and RBIs by Georgia Tech’s Thomas Nichols, whose two home runs were among his five hits, in Wednesday’s 18-4 win over Georgia Southern.

48…Consecutive seasons Arizona State has won at least 30 games.  The current campaign also marks the 50th time overall the Sun Devils have reached the 30-win mark.

11…Teams, including ASU (33-5), that notched their 30th win before losing their 10th game this season.  Virginia (34-9), Texas (34-7), Georgia Tech (34-7), LSU (32-9), Arkansas (33-8), Coastal Carolina (36-5), South Carolina (32-8), Connecticut (33-7), Louisville (32-7), Vanderbilt (32-10), and TCU (30-8) also accomplished the feat.  UCLA (29-7) and Appalachian State (29-8-1) still have the chance to do it as well.

6…Home runs surrendered in 9.0 innings by UCLA in Tuesday’s 16-5 loss to Long Beach State.  Dirtbag  DH Jordan Cases connected for two of the long balls.

17….Home runs surrendered by UCLA pitchers in the previous 295.0 innings prior to Tuesday’s loss.  The 16 runs and 18 hits allowed by the Bruin pitching staff were also season-highs.

2…Wins by Kansas State over intrastate rival Wichita State both this season and last season.

1952 & 1953…The last time K-State took back-to-back season series from the Shockers.

Christian Bergman (UCI photo)

1…Batter who reached base vs. Christian Bergman in Sunday’s 13-0 UC Irvine win over UC Davis.  Aggie center fielder Daniel Cepin singled on the first pitch he saw, and Bergman then proceeded to retire the next 26 batters he faced.  Cepin was thrown out on a stolen base attempt.

12…Combined errors (six each) by North Carolina State and East Carolina in the Wolfpack’s 8-6 Wednesday win over the Pirates.  The miscues led to a total of eight unearned runs scored.

1977…The last time Notre Dame played in Ann Arbor prior to Michigan’s 3-2 home win on Tuesday.  (The teams played several neutral site games near Grand Rapids, MI over the years.)

13…Two-out runs scored by the Wolverines in Wednesday’s 13-1 win over the Irish in their return trip to Notre

Mike Olt homered twice to help UConn sweep Rutgers (UConn photo).

Dame.

17…Straight wins by Coastal Carolina after a 3-game sweep of VMI.  It’s the second longest winning streak in program history, and the best since the 1983 team won 19 straight.

21…Straight wins by Connecticut-a program record and the third longest winning streak in the nation in 2010-after the weekend’s 3-game sweep of Rutgers.  UConn (33-7, 13-2) entered the weekend tied with the Scarlet Knights for first place in the Big East Conference, but now owns sole possession of the top spot.

300…Career hits by Bryant’s Nick Campbell, who reached the school-record milestone with a double in Saturday’s win over Fairleigh Dickinson.

56 & 2…Respective strikeouts and walks in 64.0 IP this season by Minnesota’s Seth Rosin.  The right-hander had 7 Ks and no walks in 7 2/3 innings in Friday’s 14-0 win over Indiana, the top offensive team in the Big Ten entering the weekend’s action.

15…Strikeouts by North Carolina’s Matt Harvey in Friday’s complete game 5-3 win over Clemson.

156…Pitches thrown by Harvey (including 101 for strikes) to pick-up the victory.

13…Game winning streak by #6 Arkansas that was snapped when #9 Florida won the last two games of their series in Gainesville.

0…Earned runs surrendered in 12 2/3 combined innings by Gator starters Brian Johnson and Hudson Randall Florida’s wins in games two and three of the series.

3 1/3…Scoreless innings pitched by Gator reliever Greg Larson to earn his third save of the year in Saturday’s win that ended the Razorbacks’ 13-game streak.

9…Runs allowed in 6 2/3 innings by Pittsburgh’s Corey Baker en-route to his 9th win of the season.  The Panthers led West Virginia 12-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning and then held-on to win 13-9.

3…Pitchers, including Baker, who lead the nation with nine victories.  He is tied with Ohio State’s Alex Wimmers and Cole Green of Texas.

4…Hits apiece given-up by Wimmers and Green with respective complete game wins over Penn State and Oklahoma State to earn their ninth wins of the year.  Wimmers recorded 10 strikeouts while Green notched five.

Taylor Jungmann (Texas photo)

18-2…Wimmers‘ record over the last two seasons.  The junior is just the third Ohio State pitcher in the last 127 years to start a season 9-0.

19 & 1…Strikeouts recorded and runs allowed in his last two starts (16 innings) by Green’s teammate, Taylor Jungmann.

16…Consecutive wins by Texas, including 14 straight Big 12 contests, after a 3-game sweep of Oklahoma State.  The 16 straight wins are the most for the Longhorns in five years.

4…Runs allowed in their last 49 2/3 innings of Big 12 action by Texas starting pitchers.

2…Consecutive wins by Virginia Tech over Georgia Tech to hand the Yellow Jackets (34-7, 16-5) their first back-to-back losses of the season.  GT salvaged a 14-12 win in Sunday’s series finale.

23:40…Hours and minutes of the rain delay of game two of the series, which Va. Tech won 10-3.  The game was halted by rain Saturday with the Hokies leading 6-0 in the middle of the fourth inning.

7-5…Virginia Tech’s (28-14, 11-10) record vs. top-10 teams over the last four weekends.

3…Wins by Ole Miss over LSU in their weekend series in Oxford, MS. It’s the first time the defending national champs have been swept in an SEC set since 2008.

Ole Miss freshman Alex Yarbrough

2…Of the Rebel wins that came in walk-off fashion.  They won game two 9-8 in 11 innings after Alex Yarbrough’s game winning single on Saturday, and then capped the sweep on Sunday with a 7-6 win thanks to a game-ending RBI single by Kevin Mort.

14…Combined runs allowed in a total of 4 2/3 IP by LSU’s Anthony Ranaudo (9 R in 1 2/3 IP) and Mississippi’s Drew Pomeranz (5 R in 3.0 IP) in the opener of the series, which was played early Saturday afternoon instead of  Friday night after heavy rains forced postponement.

23…Combined strikeouts by UCLA starters Gerrit Cole (10K in 8 IP) and Trevor Bauer (13K in 9 IP) to help the Bruins take two of three games at Arizona in their three game series.

50…Total runs scored by Texas Tech and Kansas in two games played on Sunday in Lawrence, KS.  The Red Raiders won by finals of 11-8 and 21-10 to win the series 2-1.

12…Doubles hit by the Red Raiders in the 21-10 victory.  The binge of two-baggers ties a Big 12 single-game record.

7…Of those doubles that came in the top of the second inning-one shy of the NCAA record.

www.simplesharebuttons.com

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/college-baseball-notebook-week-10/feed/ 0

A By The Numbers Look At The Latest Week’s Action

We comb through hundreds of box scores, game recaps and releases each week to find our Notebooks nuggets.  If there’s something noteworthy you think we need to add drop us an email.

D.D. Hanks (USA photo)

7…Wins apiece for South Alabama pitcher D.D. Hanks and Asher Wojciechowski of The Citadel.  Both earned their nation-leading wins Friday night.

8:13 P.M…The time (Eastern) South Alabama’s 9-2 win over New Orleans ended Friday night, making Hanks (7-1) the nation’s first 7-game winner.  He struck out 9 in his fourth complete game effort of the season.

9:37 P.M…The time (Eastern) The Citadel’s 3-2 win over Wofford ended Friday night, to make Wojciechowski the nation’s second 7-game winner.  He fanned 9 as well in 8 innings of work.

46…Combined wins by Arizona State and UCLA to open the 2010 season.

2…Combined losses by ASU and UCLA Friday night, as they both tasted defeat for the first time to Pac 10 foes.  ASU’s 24-game winning streak and UCLA’s 22-game streak were both respective school records.  Both the Sun Devils and Bruins would win their series finales to win 2 of 3 games on the weekend.

5:24…Time of ASU’s 6-5 loss in 12-innings to Oregon Friday night in Eugene.  The game featured an hour and five minutes of rain and lightening delays.

3…Sun Devil errors in the loss, leading to five of six Duck runs being unearned.  Junior Marcus Piazzisi had the

Marcus Piazzisi

game-ending RBI single in the bottom of the 12th inning.

1…Career home run by ASU’s Drew Maggi-a solo shot that gave the Sun Devils a 1-0 win over the Ducks in the series-opener to run their record to 24-0.

7…Runs scored by Stanford in the 5th inning en-route to their 8-4 win over UCLA that same night.

6…Of those runs that were unearned due to a throwing error that started the frame.  Four runs crossed the plate with two outs.

9…Innings pitched by Stanford’s Jordan Pries (3-1) who notched the second complete game of the season for both he and his team while handing the Bruins their first loss.

Jordan Pries

3…Home runs hit by Virginia Tech in Saturday’s 8-7 win at Florida State.  Coupled with Friday’s 10-5 series-opening win over the Seminoles, the Hokies notched their first series win ever over FSU (the lost 9-6 in Sunday’s series finale).

400…Career wins for Virginia Tech head coach Pete Hughes after the weekend’s two wins over the ‘Noles.  Hughes is in his 14th year as a head coach.

2…Wins by Georgetown in its three-game series with Notre Dame to give the Hoyas their first ever series win over the Fighting Irish.

1…Grand slam hit by North Carolina State’s Andrew Ciencin to help the Wolfpack upset #3 Virginia Sunday.  The win gave NC State its second win over the Cavs in the 3-game series.

9 of 9…Virginia closer Kevin Arico’s record in save opportunities this season prior to his first blown save in Friday’s 6-5 loss in 11 innings to NC State.

500…Wins at NC State by head coach Elliott Avent after the Friday night win.  He’s just the second coach in school history with as many victories.

16…Strikeouts in 9 innings by South Florida’s Andrew Barbosa in Friday’s 5-0 win over Cincinnati.

9…Combined strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings by Cincinnati relievers Brian Garman and Andrew Burkett in Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Bulls.  Garman (3-0) fanned 7 of the 9 batters he faced to earn the win, while Burkett K’d 2 of 3 Bulls in the 9th to notch his 5th save.

3…Grand slams hit in a span of five games by East Carolina’s Zach Wright, who connected on his third slam in Tuesday’s 8-0 win over Elon.

Zach Woods

15…Strikeouts by ECU pitcher Zach Woods-a career-high-in that same win over Elon.  He fanned 7 of the first 9 batters he faced to become just the second Pirate pitcher in the last 40 years record 15 punch outs in a game.

20 & 23…Runs scored Thursday and Friday by Cal State Fullerton in wins over UC Davis to give the Titans back-to-back 20-run games for the first time in 30 years.  They won Saturday’s finale 3-2 to open 3-0 in Big West play.

21 2/3…Innings pitched by Texas hurlers prior to surrendering a run to Oklahoma en-route to a 3-game weekend sweep.  The Longhorns won by finals of 5-0, 2-0 and 9-3 in Norman.

11…Game winning streak by #35 Pittsburgh-a school record-heading into last weekend’s Big East series at Rutgers.

5…Runs scored by Rutgers in the bottom of the 9th inning of Thursday’s 9-8 series-opening win to snap Pitt’s streak.  The Scarlet Knights won game two 6-1 to run their winning streak to eight before falling 6-5 to the Panthers in the finale.  Since a 1-8 start to the season RU has won 13 of its last 16 games.

3…Straight complete games pitched by UT Arlington right-hander Jason Mitchell (4-2) after Thursday’s 4-0 win over Nicholls State.

3…Games played away from home this season by Arizona, which opened the season with a 20-5 record at Kindall Field/Sancet Stadium.

Andrew Clark (Louisville photo)

3…Losses by Arizona at Cal in their first road trip of the year.  The Golden Bears beat the Wildcats by finals of 7-2, 8-0 & 4-3 in Berkley over the weekend in the second Pac 10 series of the season for both teams.

13…Total bases for Louisville’s Andrew Clark in Thursday’s 12-4 win over Villanova.  The senior first baseman was 5-for-5 with two home runs, two doubles and 5 RBIs in the game.

13…RBIs for Clark in his last seven games since returning from a rib cage stress fracture.  Clark’s 9th inning game-winning HR in Tuesday’s 5-4 win over Indiana is among the four home runs he’s hit in that stretch.

28 2/3…Scoreless innings streak by Indiana pitcher Drew Leininger that ended with Clark’s home run.

26…Runs scored by IU in Sunday’s 26-6 win over Michigan-the most runs ever scored by a Hoosier team in Big Ten play.  The final scored was also the most lopsided win for IU in the 186 game series vs. the Wolverines, who still won the series 2-1.

1…Hit allowed by Rice’s Taylor Wall in Thursday’s 6-0 win over cross-town rival Houston.  Wall struck out seven with one BB to earn the Rice pitching staff’s first complete game of the season.

6…Sacrifice bunts by TCU-a school record-in Thursday’s 4-1 win over visiting San Diego State.

14…Straight batters retired by Horned Frog freshman pitcher Matt Purke from the 3rd through the 7th inning of that game.  Purke struck out 10, but settled for a no-decision in the win.  (TCU won the series 2-1.)

2-1…Score of Pacific’s Big West series-opening win at Long Beach State.

1998…The last time Pacific won a road game at LBSU (the Dirt Bags still won the series 2-1).

12…Strikeouts in 8 innings by UC Irvine pitcher Daniel Bibona in a series-opening 16-2 win over Cal State Northridge en-route to a 3-game sweep to open Big West Conference play.

6…Runs scored with two outs in the 8th and 9th innings of Tennessee’s 10-6 win over Ole Miss on Sunday to win the series 2-1.

7…Straight losses to open SEC play by the Vols before winning the last two games of the series vs. the 12th ranked

P.J. Polk (UT photo)

Rebels.

2…Home runs by Tennessee outfielder P.J. Polk in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Mississippi.

10…Doubles hit by North Florida-a school record-in a 13-5 win over East Tennessee State.

4…Of those doubles that were hit by UNF catcher David Eldredge.

20…Game hitting streak by Central Florida’s Chris Duffy after recording at least one hit in all five UCF games last week.  Duffy is among the nation’s leaders with a .478 average, 13 HR and 48 RBIs.

12…Strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings in two appearances by Wichita State reliever Cobey Guy.  The senior logged a career-high 3 1/3 innings with 6 Ks after entering the game in the first inning of Sunday’s 17-2 win over Evansville.

1,700…Career wins by Wichita State head coach Gene Stephenson after Sunday’s victory over the Purple Aces, making him just the second coach in Division 1 baseball history to reach that milestone.

Defending WAC Champs To Play 30 Of 56 Games At Home

San Jose State Head Coach Sam Piraro

56 games, 36 will be against teams with a .500 or better overall record in 2009.
Complete 2010 San Jose State Schedule
Piraro, the four-time WAC Coach of the Year who has earned that distinction in back-to-back seasons, leads San Jose State into Moraga, Calif., to begin the new campaign at Saint Mary’s College on Friday afternoon, February 19. First pitch at Louis Guisto Field is at 2:00 p.m.

The Spartans open the home schedule the following day against the same Saint Mary’s Gaels, at 1:00 p.m. inside San Jose Municipal Stadium, with the three-game set against their area rivals concluding back in Moraga on Sunday, February 21, also at 1:00 p.m.

The Spartans host UC Santa Barbara of the Big West Conference for three to close the month of February. San Jose State welcomes West Coast Conference rival USF for the home leg of its annual two-game set with the Dons on Tuesday night, March 2, at 6:00 p.m. inside Muni.

This year’s three-game series with South Bay foe Santa Clara will see two games at the Broncos’ Stephen Schott Stadium around a 1:00 p.m. meeting at Muni on Saturday, March 6.

After a home date with Southern Illinois on Wednesday night, March 10, San Jose State is proud to co-host the inaugural Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament with Santa Clara, March 11-14. Five of the games are set to take place at Municipal Stadium, including a neutral-site match-up between Air Force and UC Davis to kick things off on March 11. The final day will have the Spartans in action twice, against Air Force at 11:00 a.m. and UC Davis at 3:00 p.m.

On the weekend of March 19-21, San Jose State travels by bus down to Cal State Bakersfield for a three-game set. After a mid-week home contest against UC Davis, the Spartans take on another Big West opponent in Pacific three times, March 26-28, with the first two in San Jose.

A three-game home series with BYU of the Mountain West Conference begins the month of April for San Jose State. That leads into a season-long six-game road stretch which starts at USF, goes through Ruston, La., and ends at UC Davis with a third attle against the Aggies.

The WAC portion of the 2010 schedule opens at Louisiana Tech for four games, April 9-11. The WAC slate, for a second year in a row, features 24 games, with 12 at home and 12 on the road.

New Mexico State heads into town for a four-games-in-four-days league set, April 16-19. All four contests will thus be of the regulation nine-inning variety, whereas nightcaps of the usual WAC doubleheaders will again go seven frames in 2010. The first two meetings with the Aggies, who, like the Spartans, notched 40-plus wins a year ago only to get left out of the NCAA post-season, will be day affairs at Blethen Field, with the last two, including a Monday night finale, at Muni.

That series will set the stage for a much-anticipated appearance in Wichita, Kan., and Eck Stadium-Home of Tyler Field for three games against one of college baseball’s more storied programs in long-time head coach Gene Stephenson’s Wichita State Shockers, April 23-25. The two schools have never before met in baseball.

San Jose State welcomes retiring 32nd-year head coach John Smith’s Sacramento State Hornets to Blethen Field for all four games of their league match-up, April 30-May 2, before travelling up the freeway to take on the Stanford Cardinal on Tuesday, May 4.

What follows is a bus trip to Reno, Nev., and Peccole Park, home of the Nevada Wolf Pack, May 7-9. The home-and-home with Stanford concludes at Municipal Stadium on Wednesday night, May 12, at 6:00 p.m. The Spartans round out the WAC road schedule with another bus ride south to Fresno, Calif., for four games with the rival Bulldogs of Fresno State, May 14-16.

For the fifth successive year, the Spartans finish the regular season in San Jose, but after completing it three straight times against Nevada, the Rainbows of the University of Hawai’i pay a visit in 2010. All four games will be played at Muni, with Senior Day slated for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch on Sunday, May 23.

The 2010 season will be the first in a three-year agreement to hold the WAC Tournament at a neutral site, Hohokam Park, the spring training home of the Chicago Cubs, in Mesa, Ariz. The six-team, double-elimination tournament takes place May 26-30.

The 64-team NCAA Championship starts with 16 four-team Regionals, June 4-7. The eight two-team Super Regionals will be held at campus sites, June 11-14, with the 2010 Men’s College World Series set once again for Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb., June 19-30.

San Jose State went 41-20 a year ago and won the WAC regular-season championship, its first league title since the 2000 team shared the crown on its way to the program’s first College World Series. The 2010 campaign marks the 10-year anniversary of that achievement, when the Spartans won an identical 41 contests, tied for the third-best total in program history.

Over the past three seasons, the Spartans have produced the most wins and best overall record among the nine Division I baseball programs in Northern California. They have gone 106-71 for a winning percentage of .599, finishing ahead of those nine squads in two of the last three years with marks of 41-20 (.672) in 2009 and 34-26 (.567) in 2007. Stanford is 99-77-2 (.562) while fellow Pacific-10 Conference contender California is 86-76-2 (.530) during this three-year span, with UC Davis, Pacific, Sacramento State, Saint Mary’s, USF and Santa Clara all finding lesser amounts of success since the start of the 2007 season.

“I feel that the schedule is very challenging,” commented Piraro, now in his 23rd season. “I don’t see a series or opponent that we’re going to be successful against if we don’t perform at our best. We face a lot of California teams, and people know that there are no weak teams in California. We have a difficult travel schedule, with some great opponents. Obviously, the one that might catch more attention than others is Wichita State. To me, it’s a regular series, but of course it is a great opportunity for our players to go back to the Midwest and compete in an environment and setting in which college baseball is really big. The crowds will be large, but that’s not to take away from any of the other non-conference opponents that we are playing.

“We have our (Jack Gifford Memorial) tournament, we play UC Santa Barbara at home, which will be a great series, we have the series with Santa Clara, we have a series with Saint Mary’s, USF, Pacific, UC Davis, we go to Cal State Bakersfield, and BYU comes in for a series in April, just prior to starting conference.

“We open up the conference schedule at Louisiana Tech, which is one of the most challenging travel venues in college baseball. We are going to have home series against New Mexico State and Sacramento State. We have to go on the road to Nevada and Fresno State, which is a large task, and end the regular season with Hawai’i at home.

“We have a tremendous challenge in front of us (to repeat). Winning the championship last year was a great accomplishment, but we lost almost our entire pitching staff. We return just four wins out of 41. We are really going to have to develop these pitchers through January and February in preparation for the new season, because we have a daunting task ahead. That’s not to be negative, but it is pragmatic. This time last year, we were very confident that we had the makings of an experienced team, which carries a lot of weight in college baseball. We no longer have that in the pitching ranks. It’s inexperienced, it’s young, it’s unproven, and that’s an area where I would prefer not to be unproven.

“The positive is that the future is going to be very good, because these young men are going to get some great experience through their process of maturing, and could be a quality unit within a year. My goal is to have them develop quicker. That is our objective.

“The schedule will be demanding and unrelenting,” concluded Piraro. “Every competition is going to demand our ultimate excellence on the field. We need to stay healthy, and we need to develop our pitching staff as we go along.”

(Release)

Moraga, CA – The Saint Mary’s College baseball team and head coach Jedd Soto have announced the schedule for the 2010 season. Highlighting the season are a total of nine games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year, three series against conference champions, one series against a 2009 College World Series participant, and a total of 33 games against teams who finished .500 or better.
“Without question, this will be the strongest schedule we have played since my arrival at Saint Mary’s College,” said

St. Mary's Head Coach Jedd Soto

Soto. “We will have an opportunity early to compete at a very high level during our preseason contests which should help us prepare for the West Coast Conference play.” “Playing this type of schedule against quality opponents will give a chance to earn a post season bid.”

Complete 2010 St.Mary’s Schedule (PDF)

Fans will get their first chance to see the 2010 club February 19 when the Gaels take on the defending Western Athletic Conference regular season champion San Jose State Spartans, who finished with 41 wins last season. Opening weekend will continue February 20 on the road at San Jose State, and will finish with the Gaels hosting the Spartans again at Louis Guisto Field on February 21.

After hosting the Nevada Wolfpack in a mid-week contest on February 23, the Gaels will be on the road for eight of the next game games. They will travel down south for a tournament hosted by Cal State Bakersfield, February 26-28. In the tournament, SMC will play CS Bakersfield, Bay Area competitor and Pac-10 member California, and Central Michigan of the Mid-American Conference.

From there, the Gaels return home for a mid-week contest March 2 against Sacramento State, and return the favor by traveling to Sacramento, CA the following day, and then will make the trip down to Irvine March 5-7 to take on the Anteaters of UC Irvine. UC Irvine won the Big West Conference last season with a record of 45-14, was ranked no. 1 nationally for a period of time, and hosted an NCAA Regional.

The Gaels hit the road again March 19-21 when they travel to New Orleans, LA, and take on Conference USA member Tulane. Following another mid-week road affair with the Hornets of Sacramento State on March 23, the Gaels return to the friendly confines of Louis Guisto Field March 26-28 for a series against UC Riverside, from the Big West Conference, which finished the 2009 season with a record of 33-20.

Another eight-game road-trip begins on March 30 when the Gaels travel to UC Davis for a midweek game against the Aggies. The Gaels then head to Hattiesburg, MS for an April 1-3 series against Southern Mississippi. The Conference USA runner-ups with a 40-26 record, the Golden Eagles were one of eight participants in last year’s College World Series and finished the season with a no. 8 ranking nationally.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Gaels from there when they return to California, as they travel to Palo Alto for a midweek contest against Stanford, perennial powers in the Pac-10, on April 7. The road trip concludes when the Gaels open West Coast Conference play at the Portland from April 9-11.

Following the series at Portland, the Gaels will be local for the next seven contests when they return home and continue WCC play April 16-18 against Bay Area rivals, the San Francisco Dons. After a mid-week game against Sacramento State, the fourth meeting of the season, SMC will hit the road for WCC play and take on Santa Clara, April 23-25.

Following an April 30-May 2 WCC road series at Loyola Marymount, the Gaels will return to “The Guisto” for its longest home stand of the year. They will host WCC power Pepperdine May 7-9, UC Davis in a midweek contest May 11, and defending WCC champions Gonzaga May 14-16. The Bulldogs finished last season with a record of 36-18 and a no. 22 national ranking.

The Gaels will be on the road the last two weekends of the season, traveling to the Seattle University May 21-23 for a four-game series. Seattle is beginning its first season of baseball since the 1980 season. WCC play concludes with a series against the Toreros of San Diego May 28-30.

“We have a balanced club this year,” said Soto. “We will return some key offensive players and have added some very talented freshman, who should make an immediate impact. We have an experienced starting rotation and a deep bullpen consisting of three closers who have combined for 18 saves over the past three seasons. Overall, we have a fairly young team that should be exciting to watch for the next few years.”

There will be no West Coast Conference tournament or playoff for the 2010 season. The regular season champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

(Release)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara University’s baseball program announced its 2010 schedule today. The 55-game slate, released by ninth-year head coach Mark O’Brien, begins February 19-21, with a home series against the University of Nevada.

Santa Clara Head Coach Mark O'Brien

“Every year we’re going to bring in some of the best teams on the West Coast to play us here,” said O’Brien. “Just as important is to go to different venues, into some hostile environments. We have an early-season series at Houston which will be a good test for us and games at San Diego State and Cal State Fullerton.”

Complete 2010 Santa Clara Schedule (PDF)

Three games with local rival San Jose State March 5-7, a midweek trip to play 2008 College World Series Champion Fresno State March 9 and an extended series at SDSU March 20-23 are also part of the non-conference schedule.

“We are going to be tested early and tested often,” said O’Brien. “In my mind you need to play teams that will prepare you for conference and we’ll do that.”

A 13-game homestand at Schott Stadium, March 26 through April 13, dominates the team’s midseason calendar. The Broncos will play its first two WCC series at home, matching up with Portland April 1-3 and Pepperdine April 9-11.

“What a great environment for college baseball,” O’Brien says about SCU’s Schott Stadium which opened in 2005. “We are very fortunate. It’s a perfect place for families to come out and watch a game.”

Twelve of Santa Clara’s final 16 games are on the road: at Gonzaga April 30 through May 2, at Stanford May 10, at UC Davis May 19, at 2009 CWS qualifiers Cal State Fullerton May 21-23 and finishing up the regular season at LMU May 28-30.

(Release)