May 17, 2004
Saturday, May 15, 7 pm, MST
Stanford 11, at Arizona 9
Sunday, May 16, 7 pm, MST
at Arizona 19, Stanford 18
Monday, May 17, 1 pm, MST
RHP Matt Leva (4-0, 3.63) vs. RHP John Meloan (5-0, 5.40)
Gametracker: Monday
Live Audio: gostanford.com with Michael Etchepare on the microphone ... A Gametracker with live stats will also be available from a link at gostanford.com.
QUICK TEAM NOTES
Stanford (39-9, 12-5 Pac-10) will complete its regular season road schedule with the rubber game of a series at Arizona on Monday (12:30 pm, MST) ... Stanford won the series-opener on Friday, 11-9, despite allowing five runs in the bottom of the first inning ... The Cardinal lost a wild unbelievable heartbreaker by a score of 19-18 on Sunday as the 19 runs the team allowed was the most since Stanford dropped a 21-11 decision at Arizona on April 28, 1991 ... Stanford is currently percentage points ahead of second-place Washington (14-7 Pac-10) in the race for the Pac-10 title ... Stanford needs just one more victory to extend its school record string of 40-win seasons to 10 ... Stanford has won 11 of its 12 regular season three-game series this season, losing a series only at Washington (May 7-9) when the Huskies took two-of-three from the Cardinal ... Stanford has not lost two straight series being swept at Cal State Fullerton (January 31 - February 2, 2003) and losing two-of-three at Sunken Diamond to Fresno State (February 7-9, 2003) in its first two regular season series of 2003 ... Stanford moved back up a spot back to the top of the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball polls on Monday, May 17 ... The Cardinal began the day at No. 2 in the NCBWA and Sports Weekly/ESPN (tied with Miami) polls, which are scheduled to be released later in the day ... The Cardinal is tied for second with Miami in the Sports Weekly/ESPN poll ... Stanford had spent a total of three weeks (March 22-29, May 3) as the nation's unanimous No. 1 squad this season and has been on top of the Baseball America poll nine weeks (February 23 - April 5, May 3, May 17) ... Stanford has won 15 games in a row at home, has a 22-1 home mark this season and has won 31 of its last 32 at Sunken Diamond ... Stanford is scheduled to play its last seven regular season games at home after the Arizona series ... Stanford has struggled with a 5-6 record in its last 11 road games but has still posted a 17-8 mark away from Sunken Diamond this season ... Stanford has come from behind in 17 of its 39 wins this year and is 5-7 when either tied (2-2) or trailing (3-5) heading into the ninth inning ... Stanford is 6-3 this season against ranked teams and 2-1 in extra-inning contests ... Stanford has been errorless in 19 of its first 47 games and is 17-2 in those contests ... Stanford has won by three or more runs in 32 of its 39 victories and is 22-1 in games decided by five or more runs ... Prior to losing 9-2 at Washington on May 9 for its biggest margin of defeat this year, Stanford's previous four losses had been by one run ... The Cardinal is just 2-5 in one-run games, losing each of the last five one-run games it has been involved in as five of the team's last six losses have been by a single run ... Stanford is leading the Pac-10 in all three major team categories with a .331 batting average, a 4.27 ERA and a .975 fielding percentage ... Stanford is averaging 9.0 runs per contest and has posted double-digit runs in 22 games this year ... The Cardinal has also reached double digits in hits on 37 occasions, including 20 of its last 24 contests ... Stanford has hit 84 homers to lead the Pac-10 and has a legitimate chance to break the school record of 102 hit by the 1997 club ... Stanford is looking to extend its school record string of consecutive appearances at the College World Series to six ... Stanford has also 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 most offensive categories - batting average (.410), runs scored (63), doubles (18), triples (4, co-leader with Brian Hall), homers (16, Pac-10 leader), RBI (63, Pac-10 leader), extra-base hits (38), total bases (151, Pac-10 leader), slugging percentage (.803, Pac-10 leader), bases on balls (37), on-base percentage (.506), sacrifice flies (5, shares team lead) and multiple-RBI games (18) ... Lowrie also ranks second on the club in hits (77) and multiple-hit games (23) ... Lowrie had a career game in Stanford's 19-18 loss at Arizona on Sunday, going 6-for-6 for his first career six-hit game while also hitting his first career grandslam, setting a new career-high with five RBI, tying a career-high with three doubles and picking up a team single-game season-high 12 total bases ... Danny Putnam leads the team in hits (80) and ranks second in batting average (.398) after hitting safely in 20 of his last 21 games, including an eight game hit streak with eight consecutive multiple-hit games ... Putnam also leads the team in multiple-hit games (27) after 10 in his last 11 contests, while ranking second in homers (14) and tied for second in RBI (50) ... Hall, who has hit safely in 30 of his last 33 game and is batting a phenomenal .522 (35-67) in 17 Pac-10 games, is third on the team with a .376 overall batting average ... Hall paces the club in stolen bases (12) and co-leads the team in triples (4), while ranking second in doubles (12) and RBI (50, tied for second), as well as fifth in homers (9) ... Jonny Ash ranks fourth on the team in batting average (.374) ... John Mayberry, Jr. is second on the team in stolen bases (8) and tied for second in RBI (50), as well as third in homers (13) and fifth in batting average (.355) ...Donny Lucy is tied for sixth with a .333 mark and has contributed 11 homers, 41 RBI and five stolen bases ... Ryan Seawell (.333, 7 RBI) is also tied for sixth on the club in batting average ... Chris Carter (.287, 8 HR, 35 RBI, 1 SB) had the second two-homer game of his career at Arizona (May 16) and is hitting .370 with five homers and 18 RBI in just 36 Pac-10 at bats ... Sam Fuld (.271, 3 HR, 27 RBI, 6 SB) is Stanford's all-time leader for runs scored with 258, while ranking second on Stanford's all-time lists for hits (343) and at bats (1025) ... Fuld is 25 hits and just two at bats behind all-time Stanford and Pac-10 leader John Gall (368 hits/1027 at bats, 1997-2000) ... Fuld also ranks among Stanford's career leaders in triples (16, #3T), games played (248, #3T) and doubles (58, #6T) ... Mark Romanczuk (10-1) leads the team and co-leads the Pac-10 with nine wins, while ranking fifth on Stanford's all-time won-loss percentage list (22-3, .880) ... David O'Hagan is 5-1 with a team-high six saves and the lowest ERA (2.82) among Stanford pitchers with 1.0 inning per game played or more, while ranking sixth on Stanford's all-time won-loss percentage list with a 12-2 (.923) career record.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Stanford leads the all-time series over the Wildcats, 92-53, after splitting the first two games of their current series. Stanford won Saturday's series-opener by a score of 11-9 despite giving up five runs in the bottom of the first inning before dropping an unbelievable heartbreaker by a score of 19-18 on Sunday after Arizona responded to Stanford's six-run top of the ninth with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Prior to losing two-of-three at Washington in its most recent series May 7-9, Arizona had been the most recent team to win a three-game regular season series versus Stanford, taking two-of-three against the Cardinal at Sunken Diamond in the most recent meetings between the teams from April 25-27, 2003. The Wildcats won the opener, 4-3. Stanford came back to even the series with a 10-9 victory in Saturday's middle game but the Wildcats prevailed 11-6 in the rubber match. Stanford won two-of-three the last time the teams played in Arizona (April 5-7, 2002; W, 5-4 - 18 innings; W, 19-1; L, 13-15).
2004 VERSUS ARIZONA
at Arizona 19, Stanford 18 (May 16, 2004) - John Hardy drew a bases loaded walk on a 3-2 pitch from David O'Hagan with no outs in the bottom of the ninth to bring home pinch-runner Terrence Taylor with the game-winning run and give Arizona an unbelievable 19-18 heartbreaking victory over Stanford. Richard Mercado had tied the game earlier in the bottom of the ninth with a bases loaded three-RBI double. Stanford had scored six runs in the top of the ninth to take an 18-15 lead as Jed Lowrie (6-6, 3 2B, HR, 5 RBI, SB) hit his first career grandslam with one out to put the Cardinal ahead. Lowrie's six-hit game was the first of his career, while his five RBI was a career-high and his three doubles tied a career-best. Stanford homered seven times in the game as Chris Carter (2-5, 2 HR, 2 RBI) recorded the second two-homer game of his career, while John Mayberry, Jr. (3-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 SB), Danny Putnam (2-5, HR, 4 RBI), Donny Lucy (1-6 HR, 3 RBI) and Sam Fuld (1-5, HR, RBI, SB) also went deep for the Cardinal. Trevor Crowe (4-4, 2 2B, 2 3B, 5 RBI) and Derek Decater (4-5, 2 2B, 4 RBI, SB) had four hits each for Arizona, while Moises Duran (3-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI), Jason Donald (3-6, RBI) and Jeff Van Houten (3-6, 2 RBI) posted three-hit games. John Hardy (2-6, HR, 4 RBI) hit Arizona's only home run, while Jordan Brown (2-6) also had a pair of hits and Mercado (1-3, 2B, 3 RBI) drove in three runs with his ninth inning double. All 19 players that had at least one official at bat in the game had at least one hit as the teams combined for 37 runs on 42 hits, while drawing 12 walks and being hit by a pair of pitches. Arizona reliever Derek Rodriguez got his first win of the season despite allowing four runs (three earned), while O'Hagan took his first loss of the campaign by giving up four runs without recording an out in the ninth.
Stanford 11, at Arizona 9 (May 15, 2004) - Stanford gave up five runs in the bottom of the first inning but rallied for an 11-9 victory over Arizona. Brian Hall (2-4, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, SB) drove in three runs with a key third inning bases loaded triple, while Danny Putnam (3-5, RBI) continued his hot stretch by hitting safely for the 19th time in the last 20 games. Chris Lewis hit the game's only home run and drove in a pair of runs, while Jed Lowrie (2-5, RBI) had a multiple-hit game and Chris Carter picked up a pair of RBI. Mark Romanczuk (5.0 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 8 SO) picked up the victory, while David O'Hagan (2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) earned the save. Richard Mercado (3-3, 2B, RBI), Jason Donald (2-5, 3 RBI) and Jeff Van Houten (2-5, 3B) had multiple-hit contests for Arizona, while Trevor Crowe doubled and drove in three runs. Arizona starter Koley Kolberg (4.2 IP, 9 R, 8 ER, 9 H, 5 BB, 3 SO) took the loss.
2003 VERSUS ARIZONA
at Stanford 7, San Jose State 2 (May 4, 2004) - Jed Lowrie, Chris Lewis and John Mayberry, Jr. all homered to lift Stanford to its fifth straight victory by a score of 7-2 over San Jose State. Danny Putnam (2-4, SB) was the only Cardinal with more than one hit but the other eight starters all added one Matt Leva, the first of seven Stanford pitchers that held the Spartans to two runs and four hits, improved to 4-0 by allowing just one unearned run and one hit over the first 3.0 innings. Josh Lansford (2-4) had half of San Jose State's four hits. Spartan starter Jose Amaya (1-5) took the loss, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts over the first 4.0 innings.
LAST WEEK
at Stanford 3, Santa Clara 1 (May 11, 2004) - Stanford scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning and held on for a 3-1 win over Santa Clara to complete a four-game season sweep of the Broncos. Stanford won its 15th straight home game and improved to 22-1 at Sunken Diamond this season. Danny Putnam (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI) had a key two-RBI double in the bottom of the first inning and was the only player on either team with a multiple-hit or multiple-RBI contest. Donny Lucy immediately followed Putnam's first inning double with an RBI double of his own to bring home Putnam. Blake Holler earned the victory in a predetermined pitching rotation, striking out two in a hitless top of the first; while David O'Hagan picked up the save by retiring all six batters he faced. Seven Stanford pitchers limited the Broncos to one run and four hits and struck out 10 batters. Santa Clara starter Bryan Fleming (0-1) took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts over the first 4.2 innings.
LAST SERIES
at Washington 3, Stanford 2 - 10 Innings (May 7, 2004) - Nick Batkoski's one-out bloop single into shallow right field with the bases loaded in the top of the 10th inning scored Brent Lillibridge with the winning run to lift Washington to a 3-2 upset victory over Stanford. Washington's Kyle Larsen also hit a key one-out solo homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game at 2-2. Batkoski (2-5, 2B, 2 RBI) and John Otness (2-4) had two hits each for the Huskies, while Danny Putnam (2-3) was the only Stanford player with more than one hit and also walked twice. Washington reliever Tim Lincecum pitched the final 2.0 scoreless innings to earn the victory. Stanford reliever Jeff Stimpson took the loss after coming on in relief of Cardinal starter Mark Romanczuk (career-high-tying 9.0 innings, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO) to start the bottom of the 10th.
Stanford 7, at Washington 2 (May 8, 2004) - Stanford rebounded with a 7-2 win at Washington to even a key three-game conference series between the top two teams in the Pac-10. Jeff Gilmore picked up his eighth victory of the season, striking out a career-high-tying eight batters while allowing just two runs on six hits and a pair of walks. Jed Lowrie (3-4, 3 2B, RBI) had a career-high three doubles to lead the Cardinal offense. Chris Minaker (3-5, RBI) added a career-high-tying three-hit game for Stanford, while Sam Fuld (2-4, 2 RBI) and Danny Putnam (2-4) had two hits each as the Cardinal outhit the Huskies, 13-6. David O'Hagan pitched 2.0 hitless innings with one strikeout in relief of Gilmore to close out the game. Nick Batkoski accounted for the second of Washington's two runs with a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth for his second long ball of the season, while Taylor Johnson (2-3) was the only Washington player with more than one hit. Washington reliever Trent Baysinger (3-3) took the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and four walks with four strikeouts over 3.2 innings of middle relief. The game was delayed by 57 minutes in the top of the fifth inning by rain.
at Washington 9, Stanford 2 (May 9, 2004) - Stanford dropped the rubber game of a key three-game series at Washington by a score of 9-2. Tim Lincecum struck out 13 Stanford hitters in a season-high 8.0 innings of work to pick up his second win of the series, allowing Stanford's only two runs on solo homers by Chris Carter and Danny Putnam while spreading out seven hits and four walks. John Otness (3-5, HR, 3 RBI) and Brent Lillibridge (1-4, HR, 2 RBI) both went deep for the Huskies, while Greg Isaacson (2-4, RBI) and Matt Lane (2-5) added two hits each to lead Washington's 12-hit offense. Putnam (2-4, HR, RBI) was the only Stanford player with more than one hit as the Cardinal was outhit, 12-8. Stanford finished with a season-high-tying 15 strikeouts. Stanford starter Greg Reynolds suffered his first collegiate loss, lasting just 2.1 innings and allowing four runs on four hits and three walks without striking out a batter.