MORAGA, Calif. - Saint Mary's improved to 11-8 overall after splitting their Saturday doubleheader with Sacramento State. After falling in walk-off fashion in game one, they bounced back with a pair of homers and a dominant 10-3 victory. Garret Plata picked up his third win of the season in relief while Eddie Madrigal and Diego Castellanos recorded home runs in the team's seven-run victory. 

The Gaels will host Cal on Tuesday, March 18th before hitting the road for a three-game series with Big East member Creighton starting on Friday, March 21st. Head coach Eric Valenzuela continues to put the Gaels on big stages as they will travel to Omaha and play at the famous Charles Schwab Field, the home of the College Baseball World Series since 1950. The three-game set with the Blue Jays will mark the final non-conference series before starting WCC play on March 28th against San Francisco.   

GAME COVERAGE

BSB | Saint Mary's vs. Cal | Br. Ronald Gallagher Stadium
Moraga, Calif. | March 18th | 3:00 PM
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Tickets

BSB | Saint Mary's at Creighton | Charles Schwab Field Omaha
Omaha, NE | March 21-23 | 4:00 PM, 12:00 PM, 10:00 AM (pacific) 
Live Stats | FloSports | Tickets

GAELS OUTLOOK

Garret Plata Wins Leader…

Junior relief pitcher Garret Plata made his seventh appearance of the season in game two against Sacramento State and after recording the first two outs of the inning, he would depart with a 4-3 lead and put himself in line for his team leading third win of the season. 

Plata holds a 4.50 ERA in ten innings pitched and has proven to be a leverage southpaw for head coach Eric Valenzuela and his staff, pitching in the middle innings of games this season. The San Jose native pitches to contact and does a great job of minimizing damage whether the Gaels are trailing or ahead in the middle portion of the game. 

His third win on Saturday went down as a new career high after recording just two wins over the entire 2023 season in 12 appearances. 

Madrigal Magic…

In his third season, Eddie Madrigal has stepped up in a big way after the departure of the program's all-time home-runs leader in Christian Almanza after the 2024 season. Madrigal has stepped into the starting role at first base and has belted a team high seven home runs. 

He's hitting .391 from the plate with three doubles and a team high 25 RBI. Madrigal suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2024 but has bounced back with a tremendous start to the 2025 season putting up career numbers. Madrigal hit two home runs in the team's doubleheader against Sac State over the weekend, a game tying two-run shot in game one and then a three-run bomb in game two to put the game to bed for their eleventh win of the season. He was also 3-for-4 in game one of the doubleheader for his seventh multi-hit game of the year.  

Perfect from the Dish for Kashimoto and Williams…

Saint Mary's had two hitters go perfect from the dish with multiple at-bats over the weekend including junior Cody Kashimoto and freshman Brett Williams. Kashimoto has been an absolute stud out of the leadoff spot for the Gaels, leading all starters with a .413 batting average, 26 hits and 19 walks. He recorded a career high four hits in game one of Saturday's doubleheader and now has eight multi-hit games this season. 

Freshman catcher Brett Williams had played in just one game prior to Saturday's doubleheader but made his first collegiate start in game two and did not disappoint. Williams went a perfect 4-for-4 from the plate including a two-run single in the second inning for his first career RBI. He also scored a pair of runs for the Gaels in what was a memorable debut for the Southern California native. 

Series History…

Both Saint Mary's and Cal met in a home and home series last year where each road team came away with the win. The Gaels took the first game 6-1 but Cal bounced back with a 14-11 win at Br. Ronald Gallagher Stadium. The Gaels are 3-3 in their previous six matchups and 12-17 in the series dating back to 2000. 

Friday will be just the second all-time meeting between Saint Mary's and Creighton as the two team's first met in the 1997 Rawlings Spring Training Tournament. In that game, Creighton won 10-5 as Saint Mary's left Arizona winless, going 0-4 with defeats to Northern Iowa, Northeastern and Ohio State.  

ABOUT THE GOLDEN BEARS (ACC)

Cal enters this week with a 9-10 overall record and started ACC play with a 2-4 record with wins over Duke and Virginia. In their first season as a part of the ACC, they were picked to finish 13th while Virginia was picked to win the conference with 13 first place votes. The Golden Bears won 36 games in 2024 and fell in the semi-finals of the Pac-12 Tournament to end their season. 

This year, they embark on a new challenge as a member of the ACC, joining the conference along with fellow Bay Area rival Stanford. The Cardinal was picked to finish eighth in the ACC Preseason Poll with 143 votes. 

Junior Cade Campbell leads the Bears offensively with a .385 batting average and six home runs. The Lodi native has a team high ten multi-hit games this season as their offense goes when he goes. Despite the impressive streak, Cal is just 6-4 in those ten games when Campbell has multiple hits. 

Jarren Advincula leads the team with eight doubles and is just two hits behind Campbell with 28 on the season. He's hitting .354 from the dish and has nine multi-hit games this season. On the mound, Cal boasts a pretty impressive staff with a team ERA 4.28 good for eighth lowest in the ACC. Gavin Eddy anchors the rotation with five starts, a 1-1 record and a 1.52 ERA to lead all eligible starters.    

ABOUT THE BLUEJAYS (Big East)

Creighton has yet to start conference play but leads all Big East teams with a 10-5 overall record. The Blue Jays have had two non-conference series against fellow West Coast Conference schools including Portland and San Francisco. They took two of three in Oregon before the finale was canceled due to weather and then won another two games against the Dons in San Francisco to complete their west coast road trip. 

Nolan Sailors leads the team with a .383 batting average and 23 hits while Nate McHugh and Will MacLean lead the team with three homers each. The Blue Jays only have a .264 team batting average with 97 runs scored, compared to a .286 average and 141 runs scored for Saint Mary's. 

On the mound, Wilson Magers leads the team with four starts and a 3-1 record. He also has over 20 innings pitched on the season and a team high 20 strikeouts. Ian Koosman also has four starts for Creighton but is 1-2 with a 12.66 ERA. The Blue Jays staff has been their strength to start the 2025 season as they've held opponents on average to under five runs per game to give them a Big East best 10-5 record.  

First pitch for Tuesday's home game against Cal is scheduled for 3:00 PM and can be streamed live on ESPN+. Tickets for all home Saint Mary's baseball games can be bought online at smcgaels.com/tickets. 

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