BSB | Saint Mary’s Looks for Season Sweep over Bakersfield; Resume WCC Play at Santa Clara on Friday

Wednesday, April 8

Moraga, CA

3:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

CSU Bakersfield

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#26 Max Johnson: 3.0 IP (career high), 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB vs. Pacific

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

BSB | Saint Mary’s Looks for Season Sweep over Bakersfield; Resume WCC Play at Santa Clara on Friday

4/7/2026 12:08:00 PM | Baseball

MORAGA, Calif. - The Saint Mary's baseball team will return to Louis Guisto Field at Br. Ronald Gallagher Stadium on Wednesday to resume its five-game week against CSU Bakersfield, searching for the regular season sweep of the Roadrunners after defeating them in a wild 10-8 12-inning game back in February. The Gaels will then head to Santa Clara to resume West Coast Conference action against the Broncos starting on Friday to conclude their five-game week.

Saint Mary's has won three of its last four games including a WCC sweep over the Pacific Tigers last weekend to improve to 5-4 in conference play. Head coach Eric Valenzuela and his squad will put their three-game conference win streak on the line Friday night as they take on Santa Clara in an effort to continue their upward trajectory in the conference standings.

All four games this week will be streamed live on ESPN+.

GAME COVERAGE AND INFORMATION

BSB | Saint Mary's vs. CSU Bakersfield | Louis Guisto Field at Br. Ronald Gallagher Stadium
Moraga, Calif. | April 8 | 3 p.m.
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Tickets

BSB | Saint Mary's at Santa Clara | Stephen Schott Stadium
Santa Clara, Calif. | April 10-12 | 6, 1, 12 p.m.
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Tickets

GAELS OUTLOOK

Career Night for Damo; 11 K's, 7 IP in Game 1 Win Over Pacific…

Senior right hander John Damozonio has been putting up career numbers here in 2026 and has been one of the best starters in the West Coast Conference this season. Damozonio had a career night on Thursday in game one against Pacific, completing seven innings and recording a whopping 11 strikeouts, both good for new career highs. Damozonio recorded a pair of punchouts in the seventh to get to double-digits and exit the game with the Gaels holding a 6-3 lead over the Tigers.

Through his eight starts this season, Damozonio leads the WCC with five wins and 45.0 innings pitched and also ranks second with 51 strikeouts and a career low 2.60 ERA. Saint Mary's went on to win 11-4 in game one and eventually sweep the Tigers to improve to 5-4 in WCC play.

Waldeck Hurls Career High 5.2 Innings but Gaels Fall to Aggies in Midweek…

Saint Mary's embarked on its second five-game week of the 2026 season and got everything they could have hoped for and more Monday night as redshirt junior Noah Waldeck pitched a career high 5.2 innings in just his second start of the season. Waldeck found himself under 60 pitches and with a scoreless outing through five innings as the Gaels held a 1-0 lead. His outing would come to an end though in the sixth as UC Davis sparked a two-out rally to score two runs and bounce Waldeck from the game.

Despite the loss, Waldeck was incredibly effective and gave Valenzuela great length out of the midweek starter role. The Gaels left Monday night with just three pitchers used including just two outs from redshirt freshman southpaw David Roberts in the bottom of the eighth. They'll go into the rest of the week with a full arsenal as the Gaels host CSU Bakersfield on Wednesday before heading to Santa Clara for their conference series against the Broncos starting on Friday.

Castellanos Leads Gaels at the Plate in WCC Sweep over Tigers…

Diego Castellanos led the Gaels in hitting over their three-game sweep over Pacific last week. Castellanos went 5-8 with five runs scored, one triple and one home run. Castellanos had two hits in game one and game two of the series and scored a season high three runs in the opener when the Gaels won 11-4. He was responsible for both runs on Saturday in the finale, recording an RBI triple in the fourth before trotting home to score on a wild pitch later in the inning. Castellanos ranks third in the WCC with a .379 batting average and leads the conference with 44 hits this season.

Pitching on the Rise for Valenzuela and Staff…

SMC head coach Eric Valenzuela also doubles as the Gaels lead pitching coach and despite the offense garnering a lot of the attention over recent years, the Gaels pitching staff has started to turn a corner in year three of Valenzuela's second tenure with Saint Mary's. Saint Mary's pitching held Pacific to under four runs per game this past week in its WCC series sweep. Damozonio had a career night on Thursday with seven innings pitched and 11 strikeouts for his conference leading fifth win of the season. Then on Saturday, the Gaels got great relief outings from Luis Martin Romero and sophomore Lukas Sarantos. Romero threw a career high 4.2 innings in relief to earn his second win as a Gael while Sarantos completed the ninth for his second save of the season.

The Gaels then held the Tigers to just one run off two hits in the series finale on Saturday. Two hits from an opposing team was the lowest total since opening weekend of the 2025 season when SMC pitching held Creighton to two hits in a dominant 16-1 win.

The Gaels have held opponents to two runs or fewer six different times this season and also lead the WCC with three shutouts. Their 5.16 team ERA is the lowest mark of the season so far and also ranks third in the conference.

Hilton Improves to 4-2 with Series Finale Win…

Senior southpaw Jake Hilton got back in the win column on Saturday, sealing the WCC series sweep over Pacific in a 2-1 home victory. Hilton went five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out a game high four batters. The Berkeley native was perfect through three innings before the Gaels plated two runs in the fourth. Hilton improved to 4-2 in his first season as a Gael after transferring from DIII Pomona Pitzer. The Gaels own two of the highest win-leaders in the WCC with Damozonio and Hilton combining for nine wins on the mound this season.

Series History…

Saint Mary's is 6-2 against CSU Bakersfield dating back to 2009. The Gaels won their first meeting of the home-and-home series earlier this season 10-8 in a wild 12-inning affair down in Bakersfield. Saint Mary's has now won two straight over the Roadrunners dating back to last season and will look for the regular season sweep for the first time since 2016 and its first home win over Bakersfield since 2009.

Saint Mary's is 40-30 against Santa Clara dating back to the 2001 season. In 2025, the Gaels swept Santa Clara in their final WCC series of the season, and therefore, bringing a three-game win streak over the Broncos into their conference series starting on Friday. Saint Mary's will look for its first win in Santa Clara since 2024 and its first conference series win on the road against the Broncos since 2018.

ABOUT THE ROADRUNNERS (14-18, 5-7 Big West)

CSU Bakersfield will head to Moraga on a two-game win streak, taking the Big West series finale against Utah Valley last Saturday and then winning the first of their midweek against Pacific Monday night, defeating the Tigers handingly 8-1. The Roadrunners have only played two non-conference games against West Coast Conference teams this season with Pacific yesterday evening and then Saint Mary's back in February and are now 1-1 in those games.

Bakersfield is hovering around .500 in Big West action, entering the week at 5-7 alone in seventh place in the conference standings. Kanoa Morisaki leads the team with a .345 batting average and has been an on-base machine as of late, working a team high 20 walks and a .491 on-base percentage good for second highest in the Big West. Evan Cloyd leads the Roadrunners in hits with 39 and also owns an impressive .333 batting average. Bakersfield ranks third in the conference with a .268 team batting average and leads the Big West with 214 runs scored, good for nearly seven runs per game.

ABOUT THE BRONCOS (13-18, 3-6 WCC)

Santa Clara finds themselves near the bottom of the WCC after three weeks of conference play with a record of 3-6. The Broncos most recently got swept by 2025 regular season champs San Diego this past weekend, getting outscored 24-9 by the Toreros over their three-game sweep. Despite the four game skid, Santa Clara does boast one of the best pitching staffs in the WCC, owning a 5.06 team ERA good for second lowest in the conference.

Leading the success on the mound for the Broncos is junior right hander Max Bayles. Bayles was named to the All-WCC Second Team in 2025 and currently ranks third in the WCC amongst qualified pitchers with a 2.09 ERA. Bayles has a 3-1 record through eight starts this season and could be slated as the Broncos Friday starter, setting up for a showdown with John Damozonio Friday night. Ben Cleary leads the team at the plate with a .380 batting average while Tate Medicoff leads the Broncos with six home runs and a .671 slugging percentage.

All four games this week will be streamed live on ESPN+ and additional game information can be found at smcgaels.com.

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