Weekend Preview: Eagles Open 2018 in California

Friday, February 16

Santa Clara, Calif.

9 PM ET

Boston College

Santa Clara

Photo by: John Quackenbos

Weekend Preview: Eagles Open 2018 in California

February 15, 2018 | Baseball

Game Notes ACC Release

The 2018 campaign starts at Santa Clara

By: Athletic Communications

THE FACTS

MATCHUP: Boston College (0-0) at Santa Clara (0-0)
WHERE: Stephen Schott Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
WHEN: Friday, Feb. 16 at 9 p.m. EST | Saturday, Feb. 17 at 4 p.m. EST | Sunday, Feb. 18 at 3 p.m. EST
RECORD vs. BCU: BC leads the all-time series, 2-0

HOW TO FOLLOW
Live Stats: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Live Video: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Twitter: @BCBirdball

THE MATCHUP

Pitching Matchups
Friday: RHP Jacob Stevens vs. LHP Alex Barden
Saturday: LHP Dan Metzdorf vs. TBA
Sunday: RHP Brian Rapp vs. RHP Alex Waldsmith

Scouting the Broncos

The Broncos are under the new direction of Rusty Filter, who was the longtime associate head coach at Stanford.
They were 13-40 a year ago, 8-26 at home. They return six position starters from a year ago and six pitchers.
The Broncos' top two hitters from a year ago return for their senior seasons. Infielder Jake Brodt started all 53 games, recording a .338 clip with 39 RBIs, seven home runs and a .532 slugging percentage. Outfielder Niko Holm was next with a .307 batting average with a .425 slugging percentage in 52 games.
Lefty Alex Barden will get the start in the opener. In 2017, he mostly came out of the pen, making 17 total appurtenances with just three starts. He was 0-3 with a 11.57 ERA and 16 strikeouts.
Sunday's starters is RHP Alex Waldsmith, who made 28 appearances, all out of the bullpen. He was 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA and nine Ks.

THE SERIES

For the second time under Gambino, the Eagles will start the season in Santa Clara, Calif.
BC began the 2014 campaign with four games at Stephen Schott Stadium - two against the Broncos and two against Nevada.
The Eagles came away 3-1, beating Santa Clara twice on the weekend with a 4-1 and 8-6 victories.

WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE EAGLES

The Eagles return 19 letter winners, including six starting position players and 12 pitchers. All three hurlers from last year's weekend rotation get the nod again.
BC made the ACC Championship in 2017 and 2016, earning back-to-back bids for the first time since 2009-10.
After coming within one game of the College World Series in 2016, the Eagles collected 25 wins in 2017 with 11 in conference. It was the third-highest win total in eighth-year head coach Mike Gambino's tenure and the second-most ACC victories.
They ended the season on a bit of a hot streak, winning 13 of their final 19 games and 10 of their last 15 ACC contests.
The team's .975 fielding percentage ranked fourth all-time in BC record books and the 75 stolen bases was fifth.
Senior Jake Palomaki broke the Boston College all-time walks record in just three years with 119 overall. He has reached base safely 276 times in his BC career, 10th all-time. His .427 career on-base percentage is sixth, the 41 career stolen bases is tied for sixth and his 17 sacrifice hits is tied for ninth. Palomaki also starts the season bringing a four-game hit streak with him from 2017.
Junior RHP Jacob Stevens' 3.89 career ERA is ninth all-time for the Eagles.
The Eagles' top two hitters - Jake Alu (.331) and Gian Martellini (.302) return for their junior years. In fact, five BC's six top offense producers return along with redshirt junior Scott Braren, who led the Eagles with a .333 batting average in 2016, after missing most of the season with a torn ACL.
Martellini started 52 games for the Eagles behind the plate last season and logged at least one hit in 42 of them. He recorded a career-long, 14-game hit streak, which was the longest of the season for the Eagles and tied for sixth in BC record books.
Alu recorded a hit in 19 of the final 22 games of last season and logged a career-long, nine-game hit streak.
Sophomore Brian Dempsey hit his stride in the second half of the 2017 season. He logged at least one hit in 14 of the final 20 games he played, including a career-long, six-game hit streak. In those 20 games, he led the Eagles with a .397 batting average. He also recorded 10 runs, 23 hits - including two doubles - six RBIs, eight walks and stole four bases. He also tallied a .431 slugging percentage and a .485 on-base percentage.
All three weekend starters from a year ago – Stevens, junior LHP Dan Metzdorf and senior RHP Brian Rapp – return to the weekend rotation in 2018.
Junior RHP Jack Nelson, who recorded a bullpen-low 2.41 ERA, is back, along with senior LHP Carmen Giampetruzzi, who had a career-low 3.66 ERA in 2018.
Junior RHP John Witkowski will close games for the Eagles. He struck out 15 in 19 appearances in 2017.