April 4, 2004
at
UCLA Bruins (14-13, 0-2 Pac-10)
Friday, April 2, 6 pm
Stanford 11, at UCLA 4
Saturday, April 3, 1 pm
Stanford 15, at UCLA 13
Sunday, April 4, 1 pm
RHP Jeff Gilmore (5-1, 4.64) vs. LHP Wes Whisler (1-2, 4.91)
MEDIA COVERAGE
Gametracker: Sunday
Live Audio: gostanford.com ... Sam Stefanki and Michael Etchepare will be on the microphones ... A Gametracker with live stats will also be available from a link at gostanford.com.
QUICK TEAM NOTES
Stanford became the nation's unanimous No. 1 team for the first time this year in all four major collegiate baseball polls released on Monday, March 29 ... The Cardinal has also been the top team in Baseball America's poll for the last six weeks ... Stanford is on a current season-high eight-game win streak (3/23 - 4/3) and has won 14 of its last 15 overall ... The Cardinal has opened the campaign with a 23-3 record, its second-best record after 26 games in school history behind the 23-2-1 mark posted by the 1982 team ... The 2004 club needs four more consecutive wins to have the best 30-game record in school history, which is currently held by the 1982 team (26-3-1) that eventually improved to 29-3-1 before dropping its fourth game ... In addition to its current eight-game win streak, Stanford has another pair of six-game win streaks this year (2/7 - 2/20; 2/22 - 3/6) ... The Cardinal has also won all eight of its regular season series this year, as well as 12 in a row and 20 of its last 21 dating back to last season ... Stanford has swept four of its eight series this season (includes its current UCLA series) and seven during its current 12-series win streak ... Stanford has won 26 of its last 28 true road games, finishing last year with a 14-game win streak in true road games and beginning this season with a 12-2 mark away from Sunken Diamond ... Stanford has also won 20 of its last 21 games at home, including an 11-1 record this season, and 46 of its last 53 contests overall ... Stanford is 5-1 this season against ranked teams ... Stanford has been errorless in 12 of its first 26 games ... Stanford has more than doubled its opponents scoring (235-111) as 19 of its 23 wins have been by three or more runs ... Stanford's pitching staff has a Pac-10 leading 3.81 ERA and had been phenomenal during the first seven contests of its current eight-game win streak (2.00 ERA, 14 ER) before allowing a season-high 13 runs (all earned) on Saturday at UCLA ... Stanford has outscored its opponents 85-32 during the current win streak ... Stanford is looking to extend its school record string of consecutive appearances at the College World Series to six, as well as its string of 40-win season to 10, while Stanford has won 50 or more games in three of the last four seasons ... Stanford has captured 11 Pac-10 titles in the last 21 years and finished either first or second in the conference 21 times in last 23 seasons.
QUICK INDIVIDUAL NOTES
National Player of the Year candidate Jed Lowrie leads the Cardinal in nearly every offensive category -- batting average (.398), runs scored (36), triples (4), homers (8), RBI (37), total bases (74), slugging percentage (.796), bases on balls (24), on-base percentage (.512) and sacrifice flies (5) ... Lowrie also leads the Pac-10 in homers ... Jonny Ash - who hit two homers, had four hits and drove in a four runs, all for the first time in his career versus UCLA on Saturday - leads the squad with 41 hits and ranks second with a .383 batting average ... John Mayberry, Jr. is third at .364, while ranking second in both homers (6, tied with Danny Putnam) and RBI (30), as well as co-leading the team in doubles (6) ... Putnam is fourth on the club with a .354 batting average with 22 RBI to go with his six homers ... Brian Hall (.323) and Donny Lucy (.302) are other regulars above the .300 mark ... Ash is hitting .459 (17-37) during his current eight-game hit streak (3/23 - 4/3) with six multiple-hit contests ... Sam Fuld continues to move up Stanford's all-time list in several categories -- runs scored (238, #2), hits (318, #3), at bats (927, #3), triples (16, #3T), doubles (57, #7) and games played (226, #10) ... Brian Hall, who leads the team with seven stolen bases and is the club's co-leader with six doubles, has the team's longest current hit streak at a career-high-tying 11 games (3/5 - 4/3, .457, 21-46, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 4 SB) ... Mark Romanczuk leads the team with six wins, while Jeff Gilmore has five ... Blake Holler and David O'Hagan have three each ... O'Hagan also has a team-high four saves, while Holler has two ... O'Hagan's 2.48 ERA is the lowest among pitchers with at least one inning per team game played, while Romanczuk's 3.40 mark is the lowest among regular starting pitchers.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Stanford leads its all-time series versus UCLA, 180-133, after winning the first two games of its current series 11-4 and 15-13. The Cardinal won two-of-three games against the Bruins at Sunken Diamond last season (W, 9-1; L, 5-9, 12 inn.; W, 9-8, 10 inn.). Donny Lucy's solo homer to lead off the bottom of the 10th inning in Sunday's series finale clinched the outright Pac-10 title for the Cardinal in the second extra-inning game of the series. Stanford also won two-of-three games against the Bruins the last time the teams played in Los Angeles (May 17-19, 2002; W, 11-0; L, 4-9; W, 17-4). Overall, Stanford has won the last six series between the clubs with the last UCLA series win coming when the Bruins won two-of-three at Stanford in 1997. The last time the Cardinal has swept the Bruins was at Stanford from March 28-30, 1998 (W, 4-1; W, 15-3; W, 7-6).
CURRENT SERIES NOTES
Both teams have swung the bats well in the series as the Cardinal is hitting .390, while the Bruins are at a .325 clip ... The teams have also combined for 10 homers in the series with each squad hitting five ... Stanford has four regular starters - Jonny Ash (.555, 5-9, 2 HR, 5 RBI), Brian Hall (.500, 4-8, 1 RBI, 2 SB), Sam Fuld (.500, 4-8, 1 HR, 3 RBI) and Donny Lucy (.500, 3-6, 3 RBI) hitting .500 or better in the first two games of the series ... UCLA's Ryan McCarthy has had a phenomenal first two games of the series, hitting .667 (6-9) with three homers and seven RBI ... The team's pitching staff have high ERA's in the series (Stanford 8.50, UCLA 12.50), while the team's defenses have committed just there errors between them (UCLA 2, Stanford 1) ... Stanford is a perfect 3-3 in stolen base attempts, while the Bruins have not attempted a theft.
2004 VERSUS UCLA
Stanford 11, at UCLA 4 (April 2, 2004) - Stanford kicked off its Pac-10 schedule and extended its win streak to a season-high seven games with an 11-4 victory over UCLA. Mark Romanczuk picked up the victory, establishing new season-highs in both strikeouts (10) and innings pitched (8.0) while scattering 10 hits and four runs. Chris Minaker (2-5, HR, 4 RBI) hit the first homer of his career, a three-run shot in Stanford's six-run second inning, and drove in a career-high four runs. Brian Hall (3-4) had three hits, while Jed Lowrie (2-4, 3B, 2 RBI) and Donny Lucy (2-3, 2B, 2 RBI) both had an extra-base hit and drove in a pair of runs, while Sam Fuld (2-4) added a pair of hits.
Stanford 15, at UCLA 13 (April 3, 2004) - Jonny Ash's two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning on the first pitch he saw from UCLA reliever and losing pitcher Adam Simon lifted Stanford to a wild 15-13 win over UCLA. Ash (4-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI) also hit a solo homer in the seventh inning in his previous at bat for the first two-homer game of his career, in addition to driving in four runs and collecting four hits for the first time in his career, and extending his hit streak to eight games. Stanford jumped out to an 11-2 lead after scoring eight runs in the top of the third inning before a furious UCLA comeback finally tied the game at 13-13 when Jarrad Page blasted a three-run homer over the right field fence with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Danny Putnam (2-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) and Sam Fuld (2-4, 3B, HR, 3 RBI) also went deep for the Cardinal. Brian Hall (1-4, SB, RBI) extended his hit streak to a career-high-tying 11 games with a sixth inning single. Ryan McCarthy (4-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI) hit his second and third homers of the series for the Bruins, while Page (2-3, HR, 3 RBI) and Chad Concolino (2-5, HR, 3 RBI) also had long balls. Stanford reliever David O'Hagan picked up the victory despite allowing Page's game-tying homer and five runs on five hits in 4.0 innings of work.
2003 VERSUS UCLA
at Stanford 9, UCLA 1 (May 16, 2003) - John Hudgins tossed a complete game, allowing just one run and four hits with 10 strikeouts, to lead Stanford to a 9-1 victory. Jonny Ash (3-5) and Carlos Quentin (2-4, 2B, 3 RBI) led a Cardinal offense that pounded out 15 hits with all nine starters picking up at least one each.
UCLA 9, at Stanford 5 - 12 innings (May 17, 2003) - Stanford picked up a share of its first Pac-10 title since 2000 despite a 9-5 loss in 12 innings. UCLA's Brett McMillan hit his first career grand slam in the top of the 12th inning to snap a 5-5 tie. Brandon Averill (3-4, 2B) had three hits for the Bruins, while Brian Hall (3-6, 3B, 2 RBI) led Stanford's offensive efforts.
at Stanford 9, UCLA 8 (May 18, 2003) - Stanford clinched the outright Pac-10 title when Donny Lucy led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a solo homer to lift the Cardinal to a thrilling 9-8 victory in 10 innings in front of 3338 spectators. Lucy finished the game 3-for-5 with the homer and an RBI in a game that featured eight homers - five by Stanford and three by UCLA. Danny Putnam (3-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI) had a pair of homers for the Cardinal, while Wes Whisler (3-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI) went deep twice for the Bruins. Ryan McCally earned the victory by holding the Bruins scoreless over the final 4.0 innings.
THIS WEEK
Stanford 5, at San Jose State 0 (March 30, 2004) - Stanford recorded its first shutout of the season and won its sixth game in a row with a 5-0 victory over San Jose State. Five Stanford pitchers combined on the shutout with starter Matt Leva picking up the victory in the predetermined pitching rotation with 3.0 scoreless two-hit innings with three strikeouts. John Mayberry, Jr. (2-4, RBI) was the only Stanford player with more than one hit, while Chris Minaker (1-2, 2 RBI) drove in a pair of runs.