Baseball looks to dethrone Waves

By Joe Doss-Antoun

Though their season is fairly young, the men's baseball team has experienced its fair share of ups and downs.

In their first 14 games, the Broncos (7-7) have lost back-to-back games twice, and have lost three in a row once.

On the other hand, their combination of strong pitching and timely hitting early in February was good enough to guide the Broncos to a five-game winning streak.

Much of the Broncos' inconsistency has to do with their inability to cash in on their hits. While the Broncos have recorded the most hits of all West Coast Conference teams so far this season, they remain third in runs scored.

"We really need to be a more productive hitting team," said head coach Mark O'Brien. "We're definitely getting the hits, but we're not getting the runs when we need them."

A large part of the Broncos' shortcomings on offense have come from the departure of many of their key hitters from a season ago, including Eric Newton, who hit 14 home runs.

In addition, Santa Clara lost another key component of their offense when catcher Kris Watts graduated. Watts, who started all 54 games last season, earned first-team All-WCC honors, and finished in the top 10 in the WCC in runs batted in, total bases, home runs, doubles, and slugging percentage.

The combination of Santa Clara's senior departures and incoming freshmen have resulted in their mediocre preseason ranking for the 2007 season.

For the second straight year, the Broncos have been picked by coaches to finish sixth in the WCC.

"Our job is to prove people wrong," said O'Brien about his team's ranking. "Just look at what our basketball team is doing this year. That really challenges us as a team to go out there and prove people wrong."

This season, O'Brien brought in a few highly touted recruits, including catcher Tommy Medica, infielder Jon Karcich, and right handed pitchers Nate Garcia and Steve Kalush.

"You can't really 'replace' players," said O'Brien. "Every player is different, so what you have to do is build on the strengths of the players you have."

Medica has started behind the plate for eight of the Broncos' 14 games this season. In those games, Medica has accumulated a .300 batting average and has combined with senior Carl Bacon to create a stable platoon at the position.

Karcich has started all but one game this season as shortstop and leads the team in double plays turned.

Garcia, a 2006 Louisville Slugger High School All-American, is arguably the most highly touted recruit of the class, but has yet to find his groove since coming to Mission Campus.

In four starts so far this season, Garcia has recorded a 6.12 earned run average while compiling a 1-2 record. However, his 19 strikeouts and ability to pitch long innings gives the Broncos' pitching staff something to look forward to going into the heart of the season.

One of the more impressive surprises of the season has been the performance of relief pitcher Steve Kalush. Appearing in seven games, Kalush has accumulated 12 strikeouts, a 1.23 ERA and recorded the win in Monday night's 5-4 victory over Utah.

"Steve has been a great surprise for us this year," said O'Brien. "He throws strikes with his fastball and mixes in some great secondary pitches."

Among the other key contributors this season are first baseman Gabe Alcantar, who leads the team with a .423 batting average and 33 total bases, outfielder Matt Long, who is batting .327, and Ryan Conan, who leads the team with 10 runs batted in.

On the pitching side, nobody has been more impressive than junior Jeff Lombard.

"Jeff is one of the best players you can ask for," said O'Brien. "He is constantly trying to get better and not just going through the motions. Whether it's pitching or bunt coverage, he always seems to do everything right."

While the Broncos have performed inconsistently as a team so far this season, the pieces are undoubtedly in place to make a run at a successful season in the WCC, and to hopefully dethrone reigning champion Pepperdine.

"I like where we're at right now," said O'Brien. "Of course I'd like to be 14-0 but this is only the first lap of the mile and we don't want to peak too early."

Contact Joe Doss-Antoun at (408) 551-1918 or jdossantoun@scu.edu.