SAN BRUNO, Calif. - Conference play starts this week in West Coast Conference baseball. Heading into the conference slate, Santa Clara is riding a four-game winning streak while Portland is coming off of a victory over No. 17 Oregon State earlier this week.   

This Week
Prior to the start of conference play this week, the Broncos go for five in a row when they host UConn tonight at 6 p.m.

The first weekend of conference play features Santa Clara heading to San Francisco, Portland traveling to LMU, San Diego hosting Gonzaga, Saint Mary's hosting Pepperdine and Pacific hosting Seattle U in the Redhawks first conference series since returning to the West Coast Conference. 

San Diego begins its journey of defending its regular season championship from a year ago, while Saint Mary's hopes to return to the conference tournament after winning it last year and competing in the NCAA Tournament. 

Last Week
Most recently, Portland picked up a huge non-conference win over No. 17 Oregon State, 3-1. Carter Gaston got the win for the Pilots, going five full with five strikeouts and only one earned run allowed. 

Last weekend featured some slugfests. Gonzaga swept Indiana State including a 23-16 in the series finale. Also last Sunday, Saint Mary's beat Rice, 11-8 in eight innings as part of a doubleheader after also facing Grand Canyon that day. 

Santa Clara swept Utah Tech, including a 5-4 win in 10 innings last Sunday. 

Stat Leaders
Two Gaels rank in the top 27 nationally in hits. Jacob Johnson is tied for fifth with 36 while Diego Castellanos is tied for 27th with 32. Johnson also ranks 13th in the nation in RBI with 32. Also for Saint Mary's, Tanner Griffith ranks No. 18 in the nation in on-base percentage (.562). As a team, Saint Mary's batting average of .345 ranks seventh in the nation. 

San Diego's Aden Howard's three triples this season rank tied for sixth in the nation. 

On the pitching side, Max Bayles from Santa Clara ranks No. 29 nationally in strikeouts with 39. In the team national rankings, Portland's staff is No. 24 in ERA (.346). 

2026 West Coast Conference Baseball Tournament
The 2026 West Coast Conference Baseball Tournament from May 20th to 23rd at Scottsdale Stadium. Click here for more details.