MORAGA, Calif. - The bats have been hot for the Gaels as they have won eight of their last nine games after taking down Nevada 13-8 Tuesday afternoon. They improved to 12-10 on the road this season and will test that road success again against Pacific for a three-game WCC series starting on Friday, May 2nd.
Saint Mary's sits in fifth place in the conference standings but are one of the hottest teams in the WCC.
Eddie Madrigal mashed another three-run homer in Tuesday's win over the Wolf Pack to bring his league leading total to 15. The Gaels offense has hit four home runs in back-to-back games for the first time in over 20 years as they lead the conference with a .286 team batting average. First pitch for Friday's game is slated for 6:00 PM at Klein Family Field in Stockton.
GAME COVERAGE
BSB | Saint Mary's vs. Pacific | Klein Family Field
Stockton, Calif. | May 2-4 | 6/6/1 PM
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Tickets
GAELS OUTLOOK
Madrigal and Armstrong win WCC Weekly Awards…
On Monday, April 28th the West Coast Conference announced their weekly awards with Saint Mary's
Eddie Madrigal and
Ian Armstrong taking home Player and Freshman of the Week honors. The Gaels have won seven of their last eight games and went 3-1 this past week, standing as one of the hottest teams in the WCC.
Madrigal now owns the outright lead for home runs in the WCC with 14 and is putting himself firmly in the Player of the Year conversation. He leads the league in slugging (.717), OPS (1.182), RBI (50), homers (14) and has a .368 batting average good for third highest in the WCC. This is his first career WCC weekly award in his three years as a Gael.
For the second time this season,
Ian Armstrong has been named the WCC Freshman of the Week. He finished his four-game week with a .467 batting average, five runs scored, a double, a home run and two RBI. Armstrong became the first SMC freshman to win the weekly award multiple times in a single season since the award was established in 2024.
Eight Homers in Two Games…
For the second consecutive game, Saint Mary's belted four home runs in their 13-8 non-conference win over Nevada. The Gaels went back-to-back in the second inning off the bats of
Aiden Taurek and
Ryan Pierce. They then had two more late-game homers from
Eddie Madrigal and
Diego Castellanos to help put the game on ice. Madrigal pushed his total to 15 on the year to enter the top-five in the single season program rankings.
Historically, this is the first time Saint Mary's has recorded four home runs in back-to-back games in the NCAA xml era, dating back to 2010. Their eight home runs over a two-game span were the most since the 2024 season when they had a pair of homers against Portland to conclude the regular season and then smashed a season high six home runs in the WCC Tournament opener against Pepperdine. The Gaels rank third in the WCC with 47 home runs this season and own the league's home run leader in
Eddie Madrigal (15).
Around the WCC…
San Diego and Gonzaga sit in a tie for the top spot in the WCC at 11-4. The Toreros took two of three in their showdown with the Zags last weekend to create the tie. Portland was on their bye last week and remained in third place at 9-6.
Saint Mary's continued their hot streak with a 2-1 series win over LMU to move to 7-8 in conference play. They sit in fifth place and are just a game and a half back of LMU who sits in fourth at 10-8.
The bottom half of the WCC beat up on each other last week as San Francisco took two games against Pepperdine and Pacific won a pair of games over Santa Clara. As a result, the Broncos slipped to last place in the WCC with a record of 5-10. Notable series this weekend include Saint Mary's on the road against Pacific and Gonzaga taking on LMU in Southern California.
Series History…
The offense has come to play in recent meetings as Saint Mary's has won six straight games over Pacific, averaging nearly 12 runs per game. Three of those six games the Gaels put up double-digit runs including a season high 22 runs in their series finale with the Tigers last season.
Despite the dominant success over the last two seasons, Saint Mary's has not won in Stockton since 2021. The last time the Gaels were in Stockton was in 2022 but the Tigers pulled off a three-game sweep.
ABOUT THE TIGERS (WCC)
Pacific enters the week with an 18-27 overall record and a 6-9 record in conference play. They currently sit in sixth place and made a big jump in the conference standings last week when they took two games against Santa Clara. Key non-conference wins this season for the Tigers have included UC San Diego, Indiana state and a four-game sweep over South Dakota State back in February.
Pacific started conference play 0-6 but faced off against two of the top teams in the league in Portland and Gonzaga. They would bounce back with their first series win over LMU and then find a groove as they went on to win their next two conference series with a pair of wins over San Francisco and most recently Santa Clara. Pacific does rank as a bottom two team in batting average and pitching but have won three consecutive WCC series and propelled themselves back into the thick of the conference standings.
Saint Mary's owns a six-game winning streak over Pacific heading into Friday's game one of the series but the Gaels have not won a game in Stockton since the 2021 season. The Tigers are led by first year head coach Reed Peters who was hired in June after the 2024 season. Peters spent the previous 17 years as the head coach at San Joaquin Delta CC and is looking to get Pacific to the WCC Tournament for the first time in program history.
First pitch of game one is slated for 6:00 PM at Klein Family Field. Tickets can be bought online at smcgaels.com and you can catch all the action live on ESPN+.
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