April 17, 2004
at
No. 2 Stanford (27-5, 5-2 Pac-10)
Friday, April 16
at Stanford 7, California 4
Saturday, April 17, 1 pm
RHP Mike Padgett (3-4, 4.53) vs. RHP Jeff Gilmore (5-1, 5.00)
Sunday, April 18, 1 pm
TBA vs. TBA
MEDIA COVERAGE
Gametracker: Saturday | Sunday
Live Audio: gostanford.com ... Sam Stefanki and Mike Etchepare will handle the broadcasts ... A Gametracker with live stats for both games will also be available from a link at gostanford.com ... Friday's night game will be shown on a tape-delayed basis on Saturday, April 17 (3 pm)
QUICK TEAM NOTES
Stanford sits atop the Pac-10 standings with a 5-2 conference record after a 7-4 victory over California in Friday night's series-opener ... The Cardinal is one full game ahead of USC, Arizona and Washington (all with 4-3 Pac-10 records) ... Stanford is the No. 2 team in the nation in all four of the latest major college baseball national polls released on Monday, April 12 (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA and Sports Weekly/ESPN) ... Last week, Stanford had been the country's No. 1 team in the Baseball America (for the seventh consecutive week) and Collegiate Baseball polls, while ranking second in the NCBWA and Sports Weekly/ESPN polls ... Stanford's 27-5 record is the fourth-best in school history after 32 games following the 1982 (28-3-1), 1967 (27-3-2) and 1998 (27-4-1) clubs ... The Cardinal has won all nine of its regular season series this year, as well as 13 in a row and 21 of its last 22 dating back to last season ... Stanford has swept four of its nine series this season and seven during its current 13-series win streak ... Stanford has won 14 straight games and five consecutive series against California ... Stanford will play 16 of its remaining 24 regular season games at home, where the Cardinal has won 22 of its last 23 games and has a 13-1 record this season ... Stanford has also won 28 of its last 32 true road games, finishing last year with a 14-game win streak in true road games and beginning this season with a 14-4 mark away from Sunken Diamond ... All told, the Cardinal has a 50-9 record in its last 59 games dating back to last season ... Stanford has come from behind in 12 of its 27 wins this year and is 4-5 when either tied or trailing heading into the ninth inning (2-1 tied, 2-4 trailing) ... Stanford is 5-1 this season against ranked teams ... Stanford has been errorless in 12 of its first 32 games ... Stanford has more than doubled its opponents scoring (290-141) as 23 of its 27 wins have been by three or more runs and 12 of its winning margins have been by six runs or better ... Stanford is currently hitting a season-high and Pac-10-leading .321, while averaging 9.1 runs per contest and posting 10 or more runs in five of its last eight contests and reaching double-digits in hits in a season-high eight straight double-digit hit games ... The pitching staff leads the Pac-10 with a 4.00 ERA, while the Cadinal ranks second in the conference with a .972 fielding percentage ... 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 (.381), runs scored (42), doubles (7, shares team-lead), triples (4), homers (10), RBI (44), extra-base hits (21), total bases (90), slugging percentage (.763), bases on balls (29), on-base percentage (.497) and sacrifice flies (5) ... Jonny Ash leads the team with 49 hits and ranks just behind Lowrie with a .371 batting average ... Brian Hall, who tied a career-high with four hits in the series-opener versus California on Friday, has moved up to third on the club with a .368 batting average during a current career-high hit streak of 17 games (3/5 - 4/16 ... Hall's hit streak is the longest by a Stanford player this season as his average has risen 160 points during the streak from a season-low .208 ... Hall also leads the team with nine stolen bases and shares the team lead with seven doubles, while contributing seven homers and 32 RBI ... Hall and Jeff Stimpson swept the Pac-10 Player and Pitcher of the Week honors when the awards for the week ending April 11 were announced this Tuesday ... John Mayberry shares the team's lead with seven doubles, while ranking second in homers (9) and RBI (38), as well as fourth in batting average (.357) ... Ryan Seawell (.345), Danny Putnam (.343) and Donny Lucy (.325) are the team's other players hitting better than .300 ... Putnam also shares the team with seven doubles, while ranking third with eight homers and fourth with 30 RBI ... Sam Fuld (.278, 1 HR, 18 RBI, 4 SB) tied the all-time runs scored record at Stanford when he crossed the plate for the 243rd and 244th time versus Santa Clara on April 13 and needs just one more to surpass current co-record holder Mark Davis (1983-86) ... Fuld is also among Stanford's all-time leaders in hits (325, #3), at bats (955, #3), triples (16, #3T), doubles (58, #6T) and games played (232, #7) ... Mark Romanczuk leads the team with seven wins, while David O'Hagan has a team-high four saves and the lowest ERA (2.60) among pitchers with at least one inning per team game played ... Jeff Stimpson has an 0.48 ERA in 18.2 frames.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Stanford has won 14 straight games versus the Golden Bears and holds an all-time 225-207 advantage in the 432 career meetings between the schools after a 7-4 victory in the series-opener on Friday. Earlier this season, Stanford swept a non-conference series against California in Berkeley (February 27-29; W, 12-9; W, 10-3; W, 6-2). Stanford beat the Golden Bears in all six meetings last year, sweeping a non-conference series on The Farm from March 7-9 (W, 11-2; W, 9-4; W, 11-2) before taking a trio of close conference games May 9-11 in Berkeley (W, 9-8; W, 6-4; W, 5-4 - 10 inn.). The streak extends back to the 2002 season when the Cardinal won the final four games between the teams. Stanford has also won five straight series over the Golden Bears since California took two-of-three in Berkeley from April 27-29, 2001. California has not won a season-series versus the Cardinal since taking four-of-six in 1978.
2004 VERSUS CALIFORNIA
Stanford 12, at California 9 (February 27, 2004) - Jed Lowrie (3-3, 3 3B, 4 RBI) hit the first three triples of his career, drove in a career-high-tying four runs and reached base in all six at bats to lead Stanford to a 12-9 victory over California. Jonny Ash (3-5, 2 RBI) also had a three-hit day for the Cardinal, while Donny Lucy (2-5, HR, RBI) and Brian Hall (1-4, HR, RBI) homered. Jonny Dyer picked up the victory by limiting the Golden Bears to one run on four hits with one strikeout over 2.1 innings. David O'Hagan came on in the eighth and pitched 2.0 scoreless one-hit innings with a strikeout to earn a save. California's James Holder (4-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBI) had a game-high four hits. Matt Swanson, the fourth of six California pitchers, took the loss by allowing three runs and three hits with two strikeouts over 2.0 innings.
Stanford 10, at California 3 (February 28, 2004) - Stanford assured its fifth consecutive series victory over California with a 10-3 victory. Danny Putnam (3-5, HR, 2 RBI) led Stanford's 11-hit attack, while Jed Lowrie (2-3, 2B, 3 RBI, SB) drove in three runs. Jeff Gilmore scattered six hits and allowed just three runs over a career-high-tying 7.0 innings to earn the victory, striking out two and not walking a batter. Gilmore had perfect 1-2-3 innings in the first, second and fourth frames, while Stanford's only double play of the game helped him face just three batters in the sixth.
Stanford 6, at California 2 (February 29, 2004) - Stanford won its 13th straight game against California by completing a three-game non-conference sweep of the Golden Bears with a 6-2 victory. The win also marked the seventh consecutive win for the Cardinal at California's Evans Diamond. Blake Holler worked 7.0 innings to earn the victory, allowing just one run and five hits with four strikeouts. John Mayberry, Jr. (3-5, 2B, 3 RBI) led Stanford's 13-hit attack, while Donny Lucy (2-4, HR, RBI) hit his second homer of the series. Jonny Dyer got the final two outs in the bottom of the ninth to earn his first collegiate save.
at Stanford 7, California 4 (April 16, 2004) - Brian Hall (4-4, 2B, RBI) extended his career-high hit streak to 17 games and tied a career-high with four hits to lead Stanford to its 14th straight victory over California. Mark Romanczuk picked up his seventh victory of the season on the mound by allowing just five hits and four runs over the first 7.0 innings, while Jeff Stimpson came on to pitch 2.0 hitless innings of relief with two strikeouts to earn his first collegiate save. California scored all four of its runs by hitting three home runs. Danny Putnam (2-3, 3B, RBI) and Chris Carter (2-3, RBI) had two hits each for the Cardinal, while Chris Minaker drove in a pair of runs. Jeff Dragicevich and Brian Horwitz had solo shots in the third and fourth innings for the first two Golden Bear runs, while a two-run homer by David Weiner with no outs in the eighth chased Romanczuk.California starter Adam Gold (5.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO) suffered the loss.
THIS WEEK
at Stanford 12, Santa Clara 3 (April 13, 2004) - Sam Fuld scored twice to tie the school's all-time runs scored record in Stanford's 12-3 non-conference victory over Santa Clara. The Cardinal scored five times in the bottom of the first inning as Danny Putnam's three-run homer keyed the outburst. Jed Lowrie (3-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) and John Hester (3-5, 3 RBI) added three hits and three RBI each for the Cardinal with Lowrie blasing a two-run shot in the second inning for his team-leading 10th long ball of the season. Brian Hall extended his career-high hit streak to 16 games and stole his team-leading ninth base. Matt Leva - the first of five Stanford pitchers that combined on a six-hitter - was credited with the victory. Nathan Faulkner (2-4, HR, 2 RBI) homered and had a pair of hits for the Broncos.
LAST WEEK
Stanford 11, at Oregon State 8 (April 8, 2004) - Stanford scored seven runs in the final two innings and John Mayberry, Jr. hit a pair of home runs in an 11-8 victory over Oregon State. Stanford trailed 7-4 before tying the game with a three-run eighth inning and scoring four more runs in the ninth. Donny Lucy's two-RBI single in the ninth proved to be the game-winner, while Brian Hall hit a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth two batters after Mayberry led off the inning with a tape measure blast. Mayberry (2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI) hit a pair of homers for the second time this season. David O'Hagan picked up the victory, while Kevin Gunderson suffered the loss. Chris Campos (2-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) and Paul Richie (2-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI) both doubled, homered and drove in three runs for Oregon State.
at Oregon State 5, Stanford 4 (April 9, 2004) - Oregon State held off a late comeback by Stanford for a 5-4 victory. Stanford closed an early 5-1 Oregon State lead to a one run on Jed Lowrie's two-run homer in the top of the eighth inning but left five runners stranded in the final two frames. Oregon State reliever Ben Rowe picked up the first save of his career after coming on with two outs and runners on the corners in the top of the ninth inning to strike out John Mayberry, Jr. Mike Lissman (2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI) provided most of the offensive punch for the Beavers with a pair of homers and four RBI, while Chris Campos was 3-for-3. Jake Postlewait scattered four runs and nine hits with five strikeouts over 7.1 innings in his winning performance. Blake Holler suffered the loss, allowing five runs and seven hits with two strikeouts and a walk in 3.2 innings. Brian Hall (2-3, HR, RBI), Ryan Seawell (2-4, 2B) and Sam Fuld (2-5, 2B) had two-hit games for the Cardinal.
Stanford 16, at Oregon State 4 (April 10, 2004) - Stanford scored seven runs in the top of the first inning and homered a season-high-tying five times to take a 16-4 victory over Oregon State in the rubber game of a three-game series. Donny Lucy (3-4, HR, 2 RBI), Brian Hall (3-5, HR, 3 RBI), Chris Carter (2-4, HR, 3 RBI), Danny Putnam (2-5, 2B, HR, season-high 4 RBI) and John Mayberry, Jr. (1-3, HR, 2 RBI) all homered for the Cardinal. Jonny Ash (4-6, RBI) recorded a career-high-tying four hits. Jeff Stimpson earned his first collegiate victory by striking out a career-high six batters in 2.2 hitless frames. Chris Campos (3-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI) homered twice and drove in four runs for Oregon State.