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#16 Arizona State Visits Stanford Friday-Sunday

#16 Arizona State Visits Stanford Friday-Sunday

April 27, 2006

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#16 Arizona State Sun Devils (28-14, 7-5 Pac-10)
at
Stanford Cardinal (17-18, 3-9 Pac-10)

Friday, April 28 (6 pm, PT)
LHP Josh Satow (3-0, 3.98) vs. RHP Greg Reynolds (3-3, 4.00)
Live Game Coverage: CSTV | Audio Broadcast | Gametracker |camera.gifWebcast

Saturday, April 29 (1 pm, PT)
LHP Jeff Urlaub (5-1, 3.26) vs. LHP Jeremy Bleich (2-3, 3.23)
Live Game Coverage: Audio Broadcast | Gametracker | camera.gif Webcast

Sunday, April 30 (1 pm, PT)
TBA vs. TBA
Live Game Coverage: Audio Broadcast | Gametracker |camera.gifWebcast

STANFORD-ARIZONA STATE SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Arizona State 81-80
2005 Results: Series - Arizona State 3-0 (at Arizona State, April 15-17) Arizona State 9-2, Arizona State 6-5, Arizona State 10-9
Last Meeting at Stanford: Series - Stanford 2-1 (May 28-30, 2004) Stanford 5-0, Stanford 10-3, Arizona State 15-5
Series Notes: Arizona State has won the last four meetings between the teams, including a sweep in Tempe last season, after the Cardinal had been victorious in its four previous contests versus the Sun Devils • Stanford had also won four consecutive series between the teams from 2001-04 prior to being swept by the Sun Devils last season
The Matchup: Arizona State is tied for third-place in the Pac-10 and will be looking to stay in the Pac-10 race during the Stanford series after the Sun Devils dropped to two full games behind league-leader Oregon State by losing two-of-three at UCLA last Friday-Sunday, while the Beavers swept a series at California • The Sun Devils bring a strong offensive game to the table with an offensive that ranks second in the Pac-10 with a .417 batting average but have struggled with a pitching staff (4.79 ERA) and defense (.962) that both rank eighth in the Pac-10 • Stanford is looking to get out of the conference cellar after losing each of its four Pac-10 series in the first half of league play • The Cardinal has put up decent pitching numbers (4.60 ERA) to rank fifth in the league but is seventh in fielding (.964) and eighth in hitting (.262)

STANFORD SNAPSHOT
• THREE-GAME LOSING STREAK - After winning the first game of its series at Arizona last Friday, Stanford has dropped three in a row by losing the final two contests in the Arizona series and a non-conference game to Santa Clara on Tuesday • Stanford has lost four in a row on two separate occasions this year

• FIVE-SERIES LOSING STREAK - Stanford's current five-series losing streak (at USC, Washington State, USC, at Oregon State, at Arizona is its longest since the Cardinal dropped seven in a row in its final six series of 1993 (at UCLA, Arizona, at Arizona State, at California, UNLV, UCLA), as well as its first series in 1994 (Cal State Fullerton)

• A QUICK LOOK AT THE PAC - Stanford is in an unfamiliar spot in the Pac-10 race in last place with its 3-9 conference mark after falling in six of its last seven league games • Oregon State (9-3) is in sole possession of first-place, followed by USC (9-6), Arizona State (7-5), UCLA (7-5), Washington (6-6), Washington State (5-7), Arizona (5-7), California (6-9) and Stanford (3-9)

• BUSY SECOND HALF - Rescheduled games caused by earlier weather-related postponed contests and a normally more compacted second half of the schedule have combined to contribute to Stanford having its final 28 games scheduled over the last 42 days of its regular season after playing its first 28 contests in the first 72 days

• MARQUESS ONE WIN FROM 13TH ON ALL-TIME LIST - Mark Marquess has moved to within one win of 13th on the all-time win list with his all-time record of 1241-608-5 (.671) in his 30th season as Stanford's head coach

• TV GAMES ON THE HORIZON - Stanford has three games on three different television entities, beginning with its 2006 television debut on CSTV in the opener of a three-game home series versus Arizona State this Friday, April 28 (6 pm, PT) • The Cardinal is also scheduled to be televised on Comcast Sports Net and FOX Sports Net in back-to-back contests against California at Sunken Diamond the following Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6 (6 pm, PT; 4 pm, PT) • All three games will be broadcast live with the Fox Sports Net contest being shown live locally on FOX Sports Network Bay Area

• SOGGY SEASON - Stanford has made 11 changes to its schedule this season due to soggy weather but is still on track to get 55 regular season contests in with a possible makeup date at Santa Clara to get to the maximum number of 56 games in a season

• COMEBACK KIDS - Stanford has come from behind in 11 of its 17 wins, including each of its last five victories

• OUT OF THE POLLS - Stanford has not been ranked in any of the five major polls (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA, Rosenblatt Report, USA Today) for the last six weeks

• HOT HITTERS - Chris Minaker has a current five-game hit streak (.455, 10-22, 4 2B, 5 RBI) with four multiple-hit contests during the stretch • Ryan Seawell and Jason Castro both had career-high five-game hit streaks before they were snapped versus Santa Clara on April 25 • Seawell hit .455 (10-22) with two doubles, three RBI and two stolen bases during his streak, while Castro batted .471 (8-17) with a double, stolen base and four RBI • Michael Taylor had also hit safely in nine of his last 10 contests before going hitless against Santa Clara

• DEFENSIVE WOES - Stanford is fielding at a clip of just .964 after posting a .971 or better mark in each of the past six years to account for six of the top eight fielding percentages in school history • The Cardinal has made at least one error in seven straight games and 12 of the last 13

• SPREADING OUT THE WINS - A total of 10 different Stanford pitchers have combined for the team's 17 wins with Greg Reynolds (3-3) the only one recording more than two

• STURDY SENIORS - Stanford's four seniors have started all but one game possible between them this season • Position players Chris Lewis and Chris Minaker have each started all 35 games with Minaker playing every inning at shortstop, while John Hester has started 34 of 35 behind the plate • Pitcher Matt Manship has made all 11 of his scheduled starts on the mound

• ROOKIE CLASS - Stanford has also received significant contributions from its freshman class this season • Cord Phelps (23), Joey August (22) and Jason Castro (19) have all started more than half of the team's games, while Brent Milleville (14), Austin Yount (9), J.J. Jelmini (2) and Sean Ratliff (1) have also made starts as position players • Jeremy Bleich has a team-high seven saves and had been the team's closer for most of the season before being inserted into the starting rotation each of the last two weeks at Oregon State (4/14) and Arizona (4/21) • Max Fearnow, Ratliff and Yount have also seen action on the hill

• LEAGUE RANKINGS - Stanford ranks fifth in the Pac-10 in pitching (4.60 ERA), seventh in fielding (.964) and eighth in hitting (.262)

• IT'S SIMPLE ... HIT THE LONG BALL AND WIN - Stanford is 6-0 in games in which the Cardinal has two or more home runs

• STANFORD BASEBALL HISTORY - Stanford has captured two College World Series titles (1987, 1988) and advanced to the CWS 15 times, including 13 appearances in Omaha in the past 24 seasons and a school record five in a row from 1999-2003 when the Cardinal finished as runners-up three times (2000, 2001, 2003) • The Cardinal has also won five NCAA Super Regionals, 13 NCAA Regionals and 20 Pac-10 titles • Stanford Baseball is in its 113th year of existence with an all-time record of 2474-1541-32 (.615)

• STANFORD BASEBALL IN THE BIGS - Stanford has sent 74 players on to play Major League Baseball, including six (Joe Borchard - Seattle Mariners • Eric Bruntlett - Houston Astros • Mike Gosling, Cincinnati Reds • Jeremy Guthrie - Cleveland Indians • Rick Helling - Milwaukee Brewers • Mike Mussina - New York Yankees) that have played in The Show in 2006

• STANFORD IN THE MINOR LEAGUES - Stanford has 21 former players currently in Minor League Baseball (Jonny Ash - Corpus Christi Hooks, Houston Astros AA • Chris Carter - Tucson Sidewinders, Arizona Diamondbacks AAA • Jason Cooper - Buffalo Bisons, Cleveland Indians AAA • Scott Dragicevich - Dunedin Blue Jays, Toronto Blue A Advanced • Pete Duda - Unassigned, Arizona Diamondbacks • Sam Fuld - Daytona Cubs, Chicago Cubs A Advanced • John Gall - Memphis Redbirds, St. Louis Cardinals AAA • Jody Gerut - Unassigned, Pittsburgh Pirates • Jeff Gilmore - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, Seattle Mariners A • Mike Gosling - Cincinnati Bats, Cinncinnati Reds AAA • Brian Hall - Unassigned, Toronto Blue Jays • Jed Hansen - Fresno Grizzlies, San Francisco Giants AAA • John Hudgins - Oklahoma RedHawks, Texas Rangers AAA • Mark Jecmen - Lake County Captains, Cleveland Indians A • Jed Lowrie - Wilmington Blue Rocks, Boston Red Sox A Advanced • Donny Lucy - Winston-Salem Warthogs, Chicago White Sox A Advanced • John Mayberry, Jr. - Clinton LumberKings, Texas Rangers A • Chris O'Riordan - Mobile Bay Bears, San Diego Padres AA • Danny Putnam - Midland RockHounds, Oakland A's AA • Carlos Quentin - Tucson Sidewinders, Arizona Diamondbacks AAA • Mark Romanczuk - Unassigned, Arizona Diamondbacks)

• STARS AT SUNKEN - Mike Mussina took in Stanford's game against USC at Sunken Diamond on April 2 and brought teammate (and 2005 AL MVP) Alex Rodriguez with him

RECENT STANFORD RECAPS
Tuesday, April 25
Santa Clara 6, at Stanford 1 (10)

Sunday, April 23
at Arizona 12, Stanford 3

Saturday, April 22
at Arizona 14, Stanford 4

Friday, April 21
Stanford 10, at Arizona 6

Tuesday, April 18
at Stanford 12, Sacramento State 5

Monday, April 17
San Francisco 9, at Stanford 4