April 29, 2006
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#16 Arizona State Sun Devils (28-15, 7-6 Pac-10)
at
Stanford Cardinal (18-18, 4-9 Pac-10)
Friday, April 28 (6 pm, PT)
at Stanford 7, #16 Arizona State 1
Saturday, April 29 (1 pm, PT)
RHP Zechry Zinicola (2-1, 3.31) vs. LHP Jeremy Bleich (2-3, 3.23)
Live Game Coverage: Audio Broadcast | Gametracker | 
Webcast
Sunday, April 30 (1 pm, PT)
TBA vs. TBA
Live Game Coverage: Audio Broadcast | Gametracker |Webcast
STANFORD-ARIZONA STATE SERIES HISTORY
All-Time Series: Tied 81-81
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
Previous Meeting at Stanford: Series - Stanford 2-1 (May 28-30, 2004) Stanford 5-0, Stanford 10-3, Arizona State 15-5
Series Notes: Stanford snapped a four-game losing streak against the Sun Devils with its 7-1 win in Friday's series-opener The Sun Devils streak had included a sweep of the Cardinal in Tempe last season Stanford had been victorious in its four previous contests versus the Sun Devils Stanford also won four consecutive series between the teams from 2001-04 prior to being swept by the Sun Devils last season Stanford has won 11 of the last 13 times the squads have played at Sunken Diamond since Arizona State was the last club to sweep a series from the Cardinal on The Farm with three staight wins from April 11-13, 1997
The Matchup: Arizona State fell into a fourth-place tie with Washington and 2.5 games behind the pace set by league-leader Oregon State with its third straight conference loss Friday night The Sun Devils have a strong offensive game with a .313 batting average that ranks second in the Pac-10 but have struggled with a pitching staff (4.86 ERA) and defense (.963) that both rank eighth in the Pac-10 Stanford moved to within a half-game of getting out of the conference cellar but still needs to take one of final two games of its current series with Arizona State to win its first conference series of the season in five tries The Cardinal has put up decent pitching numbers (4.50 ERA) to rank fifth in the league but is seventh in fielding (.964) and eighth in hitting (.265)
STANFORD SNAPSHOT
THREE-GAME LOSING STREAK SNAPPED - Stanford ended its three-game losing skid with its impressive 7-1 victory over Arizona State in Friday's series-opener
FIVE-SERIES LOSING STREAK - Stanford needs one win in the final two games of its current series with Arizona State to end a five-series losing streak (at USC, Washington State, USC, at Oregon State, at Arizona) that 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 4-9 conference mark Oregon State (9-3) is in sole possession of first-place, followed by USC (10-6), UCLA (8-5), Washington and Arizona State (7-6), Washington State and Arizona (5-8), California (6-10) and Stanford (4-9)
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 TIES FOR 13TH ON ALL-TIME LIST - Mark Marquess moved into a tie for 13th place on the all-time win list for NCAA Divison I coaches with Stanford's victory Friday night He has an all-time record of 1242-608-5 (.671) in his 30th season as Stanford's head coach
TWO MORE TV GAMES ON TAP NEXT WEEK - After making its 2006 television debut on CSTV Friday night, the Cardinal will have two more games televised live on Comcast Sports Net and FOX Sports Bay Area Net in back-to-back contests against California at Sunken Diamond next Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6 (6 pm, PT; 4 pm, PT)
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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 five in a row before leading from wire-to-wire in Friday night's win over Arizona State
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
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HOT HITTERS - Chris Minaker has a current six-game hit streak (.455, 13-27, 5 2B, 3B, 8 RBI) with five multiple-hit contests during the stretch Chris Lewis (.389, 21-54, 5 2B, 2 3B, HR, 11 RBI) has been Stanford's hottest hitter in 15 April games with Minaker (.339, 21-62, 9 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 16 RBI, SB) not far behind
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 eight straight games and 12 of the last 14
SPREADING OUT THE WINS - A total of 10 different Stanford pitchers have combined for the team's 17 wins with Greg Reynolds (4-3) 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 36 games with Minaker playing every inning at shortstop, while John Hester has started 35 of 36 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 (24), Joey August (22) and Jason Castro (19) have all started more than half of the team's games, while Brent Milleville (15), 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
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LEAGUE RANKINGS - Stanford ranks fifth in the Pac-10 in pitching (4.50 ERA), seventh in fielding (.964) and eighth in hitting (.265)
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 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
Friday, April 28
at Stanford 7, Arizona State 1
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