Game Notes

Stockton, Calif. - The Pacific baseball team closes out an eight-game homestand against Santa Clara Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Klen Family Field.

The Tigers' senior LF Brett Christopher is working of three-straight multi-hit games, as he went 7-for-13 (.538) in a weakend series against UC Riverside. He homered and tripled for a .923 slugging percentage in the series, racking up 12 total bases in 13 at bats.

Redshirt freshman Erik Lockwood posted back-to-back two-hit games, as he took over the lead in the Big West batting race. He now leads the conference with a .371 average, five points up on second place (Mike Miller Cal Poly and Brett Vertigan, UCSB). Lockwood is looking to become the second-straight Pacific player to win the BWC batting crown, as 3B Dustin Torchio turned in a league-best .369 average last season.

Among freshmen, Lockwood is second in the entire NCAA in batting average, trailing only Miami-OH's Matt Honchel (.404).  Overall, he ranks 63rd in batting average among all NCAA hitters.

The Tigers (12-37 overall) are facing West Coast Conference foe Santa Clara, who will become a conference opponent in 2013 when the Tigers join the WCC. Pacific is 218-201 all-time vs WCC schools (.520). Santa Clara enters Tuesday's contest at 23-23 on the season.

Senior RHP Chris Larsen makes his first start of the season for Pacific. Larsen is 1-0 on the year, with a 6.40 ERA. In 16.0 innings pitched, Larsen has struck out seven. His last time out, he tossed a shutout inning of work out of the bullpen against San Francisco last Tuesday, with one strikeout and no hits allowed in the no decision.

Santa Clara will send RHP James Smith to the hill. The senior has a 2-0 record and a 4.89 ERA in 2012. On the year, Smith has 18 strikeouts in 38.2 innings of work. On Friday, Smith threw 3.0 innings out of the bullpen, allowing no runs on two hits with a strikeout in a no decision against San Francisco.

Following Tuesday's contest, the Tigers will hit the road for a Big West series over the weekend at Long Beach State. The Tigers will return to close the regular season with a series against Cal State Northridge over Memorial Day weekend.