MORAGA, Calif. — Coming off of their first conference sweep of the season, the Saint Mary's Gaels (24-13, 9-3 WCC) have now won a season-best five in a row. They'll look to keep the positive momentum rolling, as they welcome UC Davis (17-20, 5-10 Big West) to town for a Tuesday afternoon clash, before hitting the road to Santa Clara (18-18, 6-6 WCC) for a three game conference series.
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's Gaels vs UC Davis Aggies
Tuesday, April 23 at 3 PM
Br. Ronald Gallagher Stadium – Moraga, Calif.
WATCH |
LIVE STATS |
TICKETS
Saint Mary's Gaels at Santa Clara Broncos
April 26-28, Stephen Schott Stadium – Santa Clara, Calif.
Friday, 6 PM | WATCH |
LIVE STATS
Saturday, 1 PM | WATCH |
LIVE STATS
Sunday, 12 PM | WATCH |
LIVE STATS
40 FOR ALMANZA
Coming off of his two home run weekend against USF, Christian Almanza has reached 40 dingers for his career. Almanza is just the second ever Gael to accomplish this feat, with Troy Channing being the other, owning the program record with 45. Almanza is just five short of tying Channing's career home run record, and three short of tying Channing's single season home run record of 20. Even more impressive, Channing accomplished his records in four years as a Gael, Almanza is just in his third year at Saint Mary's after transferring from Utah.
ABOUT THE AGGIES
UC Davis will come to Moraga with a 17-20 record overall, after being swept by UC Santa Barbara this past week. They are 3-3 against WCC foes, going 1-2 against Santa Clara, 2-0 against Pacific and 0-1 against San Francisco this year. With 50 wins under his belt in three years with the Aggies, Head Coach Tommy Nicholson is one win away from his highest win total in a single season at UC Davis. Sophomore catcher Ryan Lee has been the biggest offensive threat for the Aggies this season, boasting a 0.313 batting average. Midweek starters have varied for Davis this season, but the two most often used arms have been southpaw Braydon Wooldridge and right hander Zach Romero. Wooldridge is 1-2 with a 3.68 ERA this season, while Romero is 3-1 with a 4.35 ERA. There's a high likelihood that both of these arms will be utilized throughout the game, as the Aggies, like most teams, will offer up a potpourri of pitchers for the Tuesday afternoon showdown. Last season, the Gaels and Aggies split their pair of midweek contests, with each taking a win on the other's home field. The Gaels are 7-3 in their last ten meetings with the Aggies.
ABOUT THE BRONCOS
Coming into the week with a 0.500 record, the Santa Clara Broncos will host Stanford in their midweek contest before welcoming the Gaels to Stephen Schott Stadium. After a 6-6 start to conference play, the Broncos dropped three non-conference matchups this past weekend against Cal Poly, USC and Sacramento State. SCU sits three games behind the Gaels in the WCC standings in fifth place. In his seventh season at the helm, Head Coach Rusty Filter is coming off of a career-best 36-20 season, and hopes to hit the 30 win mark this season with 15 games to go before postseason play. Program veterans JonJon Berring and Efrain Manzo have been the offensive standouts this season. Bering holds a team-best slash line of .345/.463/.618 and has swiped 14-16 bags successfully, while Manzo has a team-high 42 hits, half of which have been of the extra base variety. Brandon Gomez, Cade Pilchard and Blake Hammond have made up the starting weekend rotation for the Broncos, all with very similar statlines, including ERAs just south of 5.00. Josh Johnson headlines the bullpen with a team-low 3.92 ERA in 11 appearances. The Broncos took two of three against the Gaels in the regular season a year ago, and also took one off of SMC at the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas. The Gaels have dropped four of their last five and seven of their last ten against Santa Clara.
Saint Mary's full schedule can be viewed here and season tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
#GaelsRise
