The Santa Clara Bruins will take on the Leland Chargers at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Santa Clara has four straight wins, Leland has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
The home team had won the previous six meetings between Santa Clara and Fremont, and Santa Clara kept the tradition alive. The Bruins blew past the Firebirds 11-1 on Thursday. The Bruins might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won nine games by six runs or more this season.
Jaxton Chao
| 04/10/25 vs Fremont | 6 |
| 03/20/25 vs Saratoga | 5 |
| 05/09/24 @ Saratoga | 4 |
| 04/20/24 vs Carlmont | 4 |
| 03/09/24 vs Scotts Valley | 4 |
John Kepner and Jaxton Chao were a major factor no matter where they played. On the mound, Kepner pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Meanwhile, Chao struck out six batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. Those six strikeouts gave him a new career-high. At bat, Kepner went 3-for-4 with four RBI, one run, and one double, while Chao scored two runs and stole two bases.
In other batting news, Santa Clara let Drew Diffenderfer and Greg Salgado run wild. Diffenderfer scored two runs while going 2-for-4, while Salgado went 2-for-4 with one triple and two RBI. Connor Houle was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing two bases while going 2-for-4.
Santa Clara kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 12 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least nine hits in four consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Leland lost 16-6 to Wilcox on Thursday. That's two games in a row now that Leland has lost by exactly ten runs.
Leland saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Eddie Chang, who scored a run while going 3-for-3.
Santa Clara pushed their record up to 13-3 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Leland, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-10.
Leland's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Santa Clara has hit smart this season, having averaged an OBP of .473. It's a different story for Leland, though, as they've only averaged .331. Will they be able to contain Santa Clara's hitters?
Santa Clara was able to grind out a solid victory over Leland in their previous meeting back in April of 2023, winning 5-1. Do the Bruins have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Chargers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
