MORAGA, Calif. - Saint Mary's has flipped a switch and catapulted themselves back into the heart of the WCC standings with a three-game sweep over Pepperdine, pushing their win streak to four games. The Gaels were a perfect 4-0 on the week with a non-conference win over San Jose State on Tuesday. They got terrific starting pitching all week long including a win for each of their three starters against Pepperdine. It was quite the homecoming for head coach Eric Valenzuela as his team pulled off their first series sweep in Malibu since 1971. 

The Gaels will complete their two-game regular season series with Cal on Monday night before returning to Br. Ronald Gallagher Stadium this weekend for another crucial three-game set with LMU starting on Friday, April 25th. Cal took game one of their two-game set in Moraga last month, 13-7. Saint Mary's will look for their first road win over Cal since 2022 and will have a chance to match their season high win streak at five games. 

GAME COVERAGE

BSB | Saint Mary's at Cal | Stu Gordon Stadium
Berkeley, Calif. | April 21st | 6:05 PM
Live Stats | ACCNX | Tickets

GAELS OUTLOOK

Three Starts, Three Wins…

For the first time this season, Saint Mary's three starters for their weekend series against Pepperdine all came away with the win on the mound as the Gaels completed the series sweep over the Waves. Things got started on Thursday with a stellar 6.2 inning performance from freshman Lukas Sarantos. Sarantos had made eight appearances prior to Thursday's start all out of the bullpen, but made his first collegiate start in the series opener and picked up his first collegiate win. 

Friday, Donovan Chriss bounced back with 5.1 innings of work to earn his team leading third win of the season. Chriss failed to record an out in arguably his worst career start last week against San Diego, but struck out six batters and gave up just one run in his start against the Waves. 

Lastly, sophomore John Damozonio made just his second start of the season after a quality outing against the Toreros the week prior. Damozonio allowed just two earned runs in 5.1 innings for his third win of the season, tying Chriss for the team lead. 

First Road Sweep over Pepperdine in How Long??

Known to followers of the Saint Mary's baseball program, SMC head coach Eric Valenzuela graduated from Pepperdine in 2001 and was a three-year member of the Waves baseball program as well as a three-time WCC champion as Pepperdine won three straight regular season titles from 1999-2001. 

This series sweep was a historic one as the Gaels pulled off their first series sweep in Malibu since 1971 with head coach Floyd Baker at the helm. The Gaels have now won seven straight over the Waves dating back to last season when they recorded a home sweep and bumped Pepperdine from the conference tournament in Las Vegas.  

Fire Me Up V!!

Saint Mary's head coach Eric Valenzuela got into a disagreement with home plate umpire Ryan Bleiberg in game two of their conference series with Pepperdine. Donovan Chriss would throw a close 3-2 pitch that was ruled a ball, putting runners on second and third with two outs and a scoreless game in the second. You can fill in the blanks with what happened next. 

Upon his exit, Chriss went on to fan the next batter on three pitches and send the Gaels bench into a frenzy. They went on to score four runs over the next two innings and hang on for the 4-2 victory. The ejection seemed to energize the entire team as the Gaels have had an up and down season and found themselves in a must-win scenario after starting conference play 2-7. 

Great defense, clutch pitching and some heads-up baserunning led to the Friday win and clinched them their first series victory of conference play. The moment could be one to circle as a turning point for the Gaels as the season continues on. 

Series History…

Cal picked up the win in game one of this two-game season series back in March with a 13-7 victory in Moraga. Cal put up two four-run innings to take firm control and recorded a game high 17 hits including a grand slam in the second inning. 

Cal has now won four of their last five games over Saint Mary's dating back to 2022. The Gaels will seek their first win in Berkeley since that 2022 season when they split the season series with a 10-5 win over the Golden Bears. Over their last ten meetings, Saint Mary's has a 4-6 record with three of those wins coming on the road. 

ABOUT THE GOLDEN BEARS (ACC)

Cal enters the week with an 18-21 overall record and in their first season as a part of the ACC, they sit in 15th place out of the now 16 member schools with a conference record of 6-15. The Golden Bears sit just ahead of Pitt who are 5-13 in dead last in the ACC. Cal hovered right around .500 in their first matchup with Saint Mary's back in March and sit just three games below .500 today. 

They enter Monday's non-conference game on a three-game losing streak after getting swept by NC State. Against the WCC, Cal is 4-3 this season with wins over Santa Clara, San Francisco, Saint Mary's and most recently Pacific. Standouts for the Golden Bears include Jarren Advincula who leads the team with a .394 batting average, 67 hits, 14 doubles and six home runs. Advincula has anchored the leadoff spot for Cal for the majority of the season and has been the everyday starter at second base, starting in all 39 games this season. 

Cade Campbell and Jacob French are the two other eligible .300 hitters for the Golden Bears, combining for a .354 average. On the mound, four pitchers have at least three wins on the season with Cole Tremain and Austin Turkington each owning a 4-4 record. Turkington leads the team with 49.0 innings pitched and 55 strikeouts while Tremain has been the team's best arm out of the bullpen with a 2.05 ERA in 15 appearances.

First pitch is slated for 6:05 PM at Stu Gordon Stadium. Tickets can be bought online at smcgaels.com and the game can be streamed live on ACCNX on ESPN.  

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