Santa Clara hasn't had much luck against Grace recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Saints will be playing in front of their home fans against the Lancers at 4:00 p.m. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Santa Clara is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They were the clear victors by an 11-3 margin over Villanova Prep on Tuesday. The Saints have beaten the Wildcats the last three times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Wildcats has come to flipping the script.
Dylan White
| 03/08/25 vs Nordhoff | 7 |
| 04/03/25 @ Cate | 6 |
| 03/28/25 @ Santa Ynez | 5 |
| 04/24/25 @ Dunn | 4 |
| 02/28/25 vs Carpinteria | 4 |
| + 3 more games |
Dylan White and Lucas Mendez made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, White tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Meanwhile, Mendez tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. White has become a key player for Santa Clara: the team is 2-1 when he allows at most one hit, but 0-12 otherwise. At bat, White went 2-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and one double, while Mendez earned two RBI, two runs, and two stolen bases. White has been hot, having posted at least one stolen base the last seven times he's played.
In other batting news, Jaxx Martinez and Christopher Alcala did most of the damage at the plate: Martinez went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI, while Alcala went 2-for-3 with two runs. Those two runs gave Alcala a new career-high. Angel Fernandez also deserves some recognition as he brought in his first RBI of the season.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Grace, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Channel Islands on Wednesday as they made off with a 7-1 victory. The Lancers not only won on Wednesday, but they posted their biggest win since April 4th (when they won 10-0).
Like Santa Clara, Grace also got a great game from a two-way player: Alex Van. On the mound, he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Van was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with one run and one RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Gavin Willis, who went 2-for-3 with two RBI and one run. Brady Borgstrom was another key player, going 2-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.
Santa Clara's win bumped their record up to 2-13. As for Grace, their victory bumped their record up to 9-10-2.
Santa Clara suffered a grim 12-1 defeat to Grace in their previous meeting back in March of 2024. Can the Saints avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
