SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Baseball will head out on the road for their next four games, completing the non-conference, two-game season series with No. 10 UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday and going to Portland for a weekend, three-game series with the Pilots to close out WCC play.
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's (25-23, 9-15) at No. 10 UCSB (33-11, 21-3)
Caesar Uyesaka Stadium – Santa Barbara, Calif.
Tuesday, May 10, 5:30 p.m. (
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Saint Mary's at Portland (26-17, 13-8)
May 13-15, Joe Etzel Field – Portland, Ore.
Friday: 6:00 p.m. (
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Saturday: 6:00 p.m. (
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Sunday: 1:00 p.m. (
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LAST TIME OUT
Saint Mary's completed the sweep over the University of San Francisco with a 4-3 win on Sunday afternoon at Louis Guisto Field.
It was the Gaels first sweep of the Dons in over 20 years, and all three games were decided by one run to put SMC at 7-5 in one-run ballgames this season.
Ryan Wiltse had another great outing, as the sophomore threw a career high seven innings on 115 pitches and allowed just three runs on five hits. He walked four with five strike outs in his longest outing at the Division I level after throwing a complete game for Fresno City College on April 23 of last year.
Blake Mann hit a line drive to right for his third triple of the season to score
Kyle Velazquez, and put the Gaels up 4-3.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
Saint Mary's will allow fans in for free this season to Gaels baseball games as construction on the new stadium seating will take place this season.
ABOUT UCSB
The Gaels battled the then No. 30 UCSB Gauchos in a 5-3 loss on March 22 in Moraga, in a game where they fought back from a 4-1 deficit to make it a 4-3 game in the seventh.
The Gauchos are ranked No. 10 by Collegiate Baseball and have officially cracked a number of the other major polls coming in as the No. 25 team for DI Baseball and Baseball America.
For the first time in his career Blake Klassen was named Big West Field Player of the Week, the conference announced Monday afternoon. He helped lead the first-place Gauchos to a sweep on the road at Cal Poly. The southpaw slugger hit a pair of home runs Friday night, one of which was the game winner at the top of the 11th to break the extra innings tie and secure the victory for the Gauchos. The junior also hit a double and a triple on Saturday and Sunday respectively, totaling eight hits, five runs, and an outstanding .571 batting average and 1.214 slugging percentage for the weekend.
Jordan Sprinkle leads the Big West Conference with 18 stolen bases. Getting into scoring position has helped him touch home plate for 32 runs this season which ranks seventh in conference.
ABOUT PORTLAND
Portland is currently in third place in the WCC standings, one game ahead of LMU and three games behind San Diego for second place.
Pilots pitcher Brett Gillis was named the WCC Pitcher of the Week after a stellar start on the mound for the Pilots this past Friday. It's the second time this season he's won the award.
Gillis pitched eight shutout innings against the Santa Clara Broncos in a 9-0 win, allowing only two hits and fanning 10 batters with only one walk. It's the fourth time this season that Gillis has posted at least 10 strikeouts in a game and the second time he's gone at least seven innings with no runs allowed.
The Everett, Wash. native has been one of the best pitchers in the nation this season, posting an 8-1 record with an ERA of 1.40. He leads the WCC in ERA and is seventh nationally, including third among pitchers with at least 60 innings pitched. He is the only player in the nation with an ERA under 2.00 that has gone at least 70 innings.
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