May 27, 2003
Walnut Creek, Calif. - Stanford senior catcher Ryan Garko, junior right-handed pitcher John Hudgins and head coach Mark Marquess were selected the Pac-10 Conference Baseball Co-Player, Pitcher and Coach of the Year, respectively, in a vote by the conference's baseball coaches. Stanford won all three honors in the same season for the first time in school history. USC's Jeff Clement won the other top honor as the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, while Garko shared his honor with Arizona State's Dustin Pedroia.
Stanford also had four other All-Pac-10 selections in junior outfielder Sam Fuld, sophomore outfielder Danny Putnam, junior outfielder Carlos Quentin and freshman left-handed pitcher Mark Romanczuk. Freshman right-handed pitcher Matt Manship and senior shortstop Tobin Swope earned honorable mention honors.
"I'm really happy for all of our players that earned All-Pac-10 honors," said Marquess. "Ryan Garko and John Hudgins were deserving of the top honors they got, because we're not where we are right now without those two players."
Garko (Walnut, CA/Servite HS) becomes the first Stanford player to win the honor since the Pac-10 North and South Divisions unified in 1999. Stanford players previously earned Pac-10 Southern Division Player of the Year honors six times from 1977-1996. The Johnny Bench Award national semifinalist led Stanford in regular season with a .406 batting average to go with career-highs of 15 homers and 78 RBI in 56 regular season games. His 78 RBI already rank fifth on Stanford's all-time single-season list. He also led the club in hits (86), slugging percentage (.708), total bases (150), multiple-hit games (27), multiple-RBI games (23), sacrifice flies (6) and extra-base hits 34. He had a huge series in a three-game sweep at USC (5/4 - 5/5, .769, 1-13, 3 HR, 12 RBI) to earn the NBCWA Co-Hitter, College Baseball Insider West Regional and Pac-10 Player of the Week all for the first time in his career.
"I'm really excited to win the honor after all the great players who have garnered that award in the past," said Garko. "I have a lot of respect for all the players who have won the award before and to be part of that is something to be proud of."
Hudgins (Mission Viejo, CA/Mission Viejo HS) becomes the second consecutive Stanford pitcher to win the honor after Jeremy Guthrie was named the 2002 Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year and the third in the last four years. Stanford pitchers also earned Pac-10 Southern Division Pitcher of the Year honors four times from 1994-98. Hudgins posted a 9-3 record with a 3.14 ERA in the regular season, while leading the Pac-10 in strikeouts (110), innings pitched (123.1), complete games (5) and starts (16). He was named the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week on February 11 after holding Florida State, the top seed in the 2003 NCAA Tournament, to one run and six hits with 10 strikeouts over 9.0 innings of Stanford's 2-1 victory in 12 innings.
"It's pretty amazing considering all of the players that have won this award in the past," said a humble Hudgins. "Hopefully, I'll be a name in the baseball world someday like some of the players who won this honor before me are now."
Marquess earned Pac-10 Coach of the Year recognition for the ninth time in his illustrious 27-year career on The Farm. Marquess last won the honor in 1999 and was previously named the Pac-10 Southern Division Coach of the Year seven times from 1983-1998. Marquess has led the Cardinal to two College World Series titles and a pair of CWS runner-up finishes in 12 appearances. The Cardinal has also won 11 Pac-10 championships (includes Southern Division and shared titles), most recently with the team's Pac-10 crown this year. Stanford has posted 26 winning season in 27 years under his leadership and been either first or second in the prestigious Pac-10 in 21 of the last 23 seasons. Marquess has posted an all-time record of 1134-548-5 (.637) and is 462-294 (.611) in Pac-10 games.
Junior outfielders Fuld (Durham, NH/Phillips Exeter Academy) and Quentin (Chula Vista, CA/University of San Diego HS) both earned All-Pac-10 honors for the third consecutive season.
Fuld finished the regular season on a tear with a 14-game hit streak to post a regular season batting average of .331, while adding two homers, 29 RBI and seven stolen bases. He led the Cardinal with 68 regular season runs scored and nine triples, currently just one off a 50-year old single-season school record of 10 set by Jack Shepard in 1953.
Quentin, a Golden Spikes Award finalist and Rotary Smith Award semifinalist, spent most of the year hitting above .400 before finishing the regular season with a .384 mark, eight homers, 50 RBI and 10 stolen bases. Quentin also leads the Cardinal in doubles (23), bases on balls (33), hit-by-pitches (12) and on-base percentage (.485). His 23 doubles rank tied for third on Stanford's all-time single-season list. He posted the longest hit streak by a Stanford player this season when he hit safely in 26 straight games over a two-month period (2/22, Game 1 - 4/22).
"For Sam Fuld and Carlos Quentin to be both be named for the third All-Pac-10 for the third consecutive year tells you what type of players those two guys are," commented Marquess.
Putnam (Escondido, CA/Rancho Bernardo HS) and Romanczuk (Newark, DE/St. Mark's HS) both earned All-Pac-10 honors for the first time.
Putnam ranked second on the team with 11 homers, as well as third in batting average (.356) and RBI (45). He hit a pair of homers in a game three times in 2003 versus USC (March 2), Oregon State (April 19) and UCLA (May 18).
Romanczuk finished the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record as a rookie and was the only Pac-10 pitcher to reach the 10-win mark in the regular season. He also recorded a 3.45 ERA to go with a pair of complete games and two early season saves. Romanczuk struck out 69 batters in 88.2 innings and posted the lowest opponents' batting average in the Pac-10 (.224).
"I'm very happy that Danny Putnam and Mark Romanczuk were recognized for what they did for us this season," said Marquess.
Manship (San Antonio, TX/Ronald Reagan HS) tied for second in the Pac-10 with eight saves, which also ranks tied for sixth on Stanford's single-season list. He also posted a 3.20 ERA and a 2-4 record, striking out 43 batters in 50.2 innings as Stanford's primary reliever.
Swope (Dallas, TX/Highland Park HS) started all 56 regular season games at shortstop for the Cardinal after spending most of his first three seasons as a reserve and led the club with 172 assists. He also contributed a .286 batting average, one homer, 29 RBI and nine stolen bases.
For a complete press release about the 2003 All-Pac-10 team, go to pac-10.org.
Stanford won the outright Pac-10 title for the first time since 1999 (the Cardinal shared the 2000 crown with Arizona State and UCLA) after posting an 18-6 conference record and a 41-15 regular season mark. Stanford earned a No. 6 national seed in the 2003 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship and will open postseason play as the top seed in an NCAA Regional at Sunken Diamond versus fourth-seeded Illinois-Chicago (39-16) at Sunken Diamond this Friday, May 30 (6 pm). Second-seeded Richmond (46-13) and third-seeded UC Riverside (40-15) open the four-team double-elimination Regional on Friday (2 pm).
The winner of the NCAA Regional at Stanford will advanced to one of eight NCAA Super Regionals to be played Friday-Monday, June 6-9. Stanford has advanced to the College World Series for a school record four straight years after winning three consecutive Regionals and Super Regionals.