Baseball in Search of First Victory of 2009 at Santa Clara

Last Week in Review
Dartmouth is still in search of its first victory of the 2009 season, having lost the first three games in California. A ninth-inning rally came up a run short at Pacific on Wednesday, 8-7, before the San Jos? State pitchers quieted the Big Green bats the next two days in 6-1 and 19-0 losses.
Nearly three weeks elapsed before Dartmouth was able to play its third game of the year. The Big Green rapped out 11 hits, three from Mike Pagliarulo (with a pair of doubles), but could not keep Pacific off the board enough. Trailing by three in the ninth, Dartmouth was able to send two across the plate, but the tying run was left stranded.
The next two nights, the offense managed just four singles in each game against San Jos? State, while four unearned Spartan runs ? all with two out ? doomed Dartmouth in the first contest. The SJSU bats exploded for seven runs in the second inning then cruised to the 19-0 shutout win.

The Overall Record
This is the first games ever on the baseball diamond between these two schools.

Scouting the Broncos
?   Santa Clara has won four straight, including a three-game sweep of Cornell last weekend.
?   Shortstop Jon Karcich leads the team with 18 hits, seven doubles and nine walks while batting .360. Preseason All-America catcher Tommy Medica hit .429 with seven doubles in the first nine games, but has missed the last five contests.
?   As a team, the Broncos are hitting .279 but have a solid .370 on-base percentage while averaging 5.6 runs per game. They haven't featured great power with just five homers and a .393 slugging percentage in their 14 games.
?   The pitching staff has posted a 5.44 ERA while allowing the opposition to hit .285 and yielding 11 home runs.
?   Most of the innings come from five pitchers, headlined by junior ace right-hander Nate Garcia with a 2.10 ERA in 30.0 innings, striking out 33.
?   This is a solid defensive ball club, committing 16 errors for a .969 fielding percentage. The catchers have combined to allow just one passed ball, but have struggled with base stealers, nabbing 6 of 38.

Probable Starting Pitchers
?   Sophomore LHP Colin Britton (1-2, 12.91 ERA in 2008) will make his season debut in the opening game of the series on Saturday. He will be followed by junior LHP Robert Young (0-1, 7.50) in the second game of the rescheduled doubleheader. The co-captain has held the opposition scoreless in five of his six innings thus far, but had one bad frame at Duke and took a loss. As for the series finale on Sunday, your guess is as good as mine. It depends on what pitchers come out of the pen this weekend, and whoever is freshest will get the start.
?   The Broncos will open up with their ace, RHP Nate Garcia (3-1, 2.10), whose lone loss came to Dartmouth's previous opponent, San Jos? State. In his other three starts, he has allowed just four runs over 24 innings. Up next is sophomore RHP Thain Simon (1-2, 4.64), who was 9-2 with a team-best 2.56 ERA as a freshman. Opponents are hitting .306 against him so far this year, however, and he has walked 11 batters in 21.1 innings. Junior RHP Alex Rivers (1-0, 2.60) toes the slab in the final game. He has emerged as the Broncos third weekend starter, holding the opposition to a .193 average, fanning 16 in 17.1 innings.

What's Up Next
Dartmouth wraps up its California swing with a pair of games on Cal Poly's field. First is one more game with San Jos? State on Tuesday at noon (PDT) before playing the 16th-ranked Mustangs on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. (PDT).

Schedules